This article is part 3 of our 7-part series on Victorian-Era newspaper engravings in New Zealand. To see the other parts please click here.
This is a placeholder introduction to part 3 of 7, Rural life
53. Lake Wakatipu (1878)
The South Island lakes, known officially as the ‘Cold Lakes’ until complaints were made about the slur on southern weather, were part of the ‘Grand Tour’ for European visitors during the nineteenth century. The engraving was based on a sketch by John Gully.
54. Head of Lake McKerrow (1870)
This engraving must have given little encouragement to prospective settlers thinking of joining the Martin’s Bay Special Settlement. The Settlement was formed between Lake McKerrow and the sea in 1870, and many observers, such as R.P. Whitworth (who drew the original sketch) predicted that it would be successful, while admitting numerous difficulties would first have to be overcome. But the isolation of the area proved insurmountable, and the few families who located there abandoned their holdings, although one cattle run continued to be occupied until 1955.
55. Otago Heads from Portobello (1877)
A century ago city and town dwellers were as keen to get away to the coast or rural areas as today. The Illustrated New Zealand Herald commented that ‘The bays of the peninsula offer to excursionists of Dunedin, such inviting opportunities of thoroughly enjoying themselves that, if fine weather be given, a trip by the steamer down the harbour, past the various indents of the peninsula, is one of the most pleasurable, and at the same time cheapest modes of healthful recreation within easy reach of all classes of the people.’
56. Mt Roy, Lake Wanaka (1885)
In the earlier years of the settlement of New Zealand the height of the natural vegetation of an area was regarded as a reliable indicator of the quality of the soil. Thus all forest land was thought to be rich, and all grassland to be poor. Later in the nineteenth century the role of climate in determining vegetation was recognised. Many observers including scientists, however, were convinced that trees attracted rainfall, and suggested that such areas as shown here should be planted in trees.
57. Outside Milford Sound (1876)
John Gully’s drawing has captured the essence of an Australian reporter’s description of the South Island’s western coastline which he saw in 1861, along with thousands of Australian miners flocking to the Otago goldfields. The reporter wrote: ‘piled up in awful rows behind the precipitously rugged coast were tall mountains, whose snow capped tops, wreathed in feathery vapour, loomed from above the lower stratum of cloud that shrouded nearly all but the glistening white peaks. … The character of the coast had something sublimely terrible about it.’
58. Entrance to Grey River (1876)
The bar-bound Grey and other rivers proved a hazardous introduction to the West Coast for the miners who flocked there in 1865. Today the bar still limits the use of the Grey River as a port.
59. Akaroa and Banks Peninsula (1875)
Originally well-wooded, Banks Peninsula was rapidly being denuded of its timber by the mid-1870s, and farming was expanding. The scenes depicted clockwise from top left are the Church of England at Akaroa, South Head, a sawmill at Little River, Akaroa jetty, the Immigration Barracks, and Head of Bay. In the centre are shown Maori huts near Akaroa, and hanging beneath the food store can be seen sun-dried fish such as shark and eel.
60. Manawatu Gorge and Bridge (1877)
The Gorge was recommended as an interesting spot for the itinerant artist on a sketching tour because of the ‘beautiful scenery’ which ‘abounds in the neighbourhood’. In May 1875 the Gorge was bridged, opening up quicker communication between the Manawatu and Wairarapa. Built of totara and with a main span of over 49 metres (162 feet), tolls were charged for its use until 1907.
61. Scene on the Waikato River (1884)
Drawn from near the site of present-day Atiamuri, Mt Pohaturoa (520 metres, 1,705 feet) appears prominently on the skyline. This rocky pinnacle was the site of many lengthy sieges during the day of Maori inter-tribal warfare.
62. Mt Ngauruhoe, The Steaming Mountain in the North Island (1886)
The most active of New Zealand volcanoes, Ngauruhoe was first climbed in 1839 by the naturalist and explorer J. C. Bidwill. He described the crater as ‘the most terrific abyss I ever looked into or imagined. The rocks overhung it on all sides, and it was not possible to see above ten yards into it from the quantity of steam which it was continually discharging.’
63. The Pink Terrace (1884)
Regarded as one of the unique tourist attractions of New Zealand, the terraces were destroyed during the eruption of Mt Tarawera in 1886. It was possibly a case of ‘distance lends enchantment’, for one writer commented that the pink colour which seemed remarkably beautiful from a distance, proved often to be ‘rather a dirty white’ when seen close at hand. Vandals have long been with us, for the Maoris of the 1880s complained of the practice of tourists of carving their initials on the terraces.