Early explorers’ untouched vistas have long gone
Like many I can mourn the loss of such untouched beauty but the world has moved on and so should we.
Two of the early explorers to travel through the South Island were also very articulate and well educated.
Their observations were thorough and comprehensive and their descriptions of the environment layered with detail. Dr Edward Shortland and Dr David Monro kept diaries of their southern journeys that were published and made available to the masses.
They were very well written and even today I enjoy reading their accounts as they have the ability to transport one back to the early 1840s and the world as it was then.
In many respects they describe a vast empty land as they travel from Canterbury to Otago.
Amazingly whilst Shortland travelled north from Waikouaiti he encountered Bishop Selwyn who was walking south from Akaroa.
They spent a night together and exchanged stories and notes of the land each was to encounter in the coming days.
They recorded, with some awe, the braided river systems that, during the summer period, were still flowing fast and wide and required reed rafts, or mokihi, to navigate from one river bank to the other.
Both Monro and Shortland attempted to glean information from the Maori guides as to the source of these rivers as they knew that there must be a giant lake of sorts to feed such a flow of water.
Each was able to draw a rude map that bore some similarity to the actual lake system that supplied the rivers from the Clutha through to the Rakaia albeit somewhat embellished with tales of floating islands and native water mammals residing on its shores.
When they reached the Otago Harbour both men were compelled to record their amazement at the scenery that lay before them. The forested canopy that rolled down to the very shore where kowhai leaves dipped in to the water. The still harbour waters like a lake or slow-moving river. And the birdsong. Both were in awe of the birdsong that filled the air.
These early decriptions capture the image better than any paintings from the time and it would be another 25 years before the famous Burton Brothers transported their camera to the island’s most beautiful vistas and recorded them for history.
But, unfortunately, so much of what these early explorers encountered and were amazed by has altered forever. The rivers flow differently with less water and man-made controls. The forested hillsides have been clearfelled and the only birdsong to be heard are from a few lonely bellbirds and tui and the squawking of the black-backed gulls.
Like many I can mourn the loss of such untouched beauty but the world has moved on and so should we.
Whalers and merchants the Weller Brothers established the first commercial activity on the Otago Harbour in 1832.
They travelled regularly from Otago to New South Wales, taking whale oil, baleen and flax to Australia and returning with essential trade items from nails and flour to coils of rope and barrels of rum. They developed a comprehensive trade route around the North and South Island supplying whaling stations with the necessary staples for frontier living.
Their arrival was always welcome and they became such a feature on the coast that a shanty was written in their honour – Soon may the Wellerman come and bring us sugar and tea and rum.
Descendants of the Wellers still live locally as do many who descend from Wellers’ workers who arrived here in the 1830s. Not surprisingly they are also heavily involved in community activities and run local businesses which provide employment and essential infrastructure services to the locals.
Currently the community is faced with a challenging decision about a development on the land of one of these descendants do develop his quarry business. The locals have been agitating for wider roads to cater for increased traffic and safety for kids and the council is finally investing millions in local development.
Meanwhile some of the very same agitators are up in arms over the quarry development as they live close by and do not want such as ugly sight on their back doorstep.
They would like the gravel to arrive from some anonymous place they do not have to deal with.
The developer needs to get realistic about the impact they may have on their neighbours and tourists who might be there to enjoy the illusion of a pristine natural environment.
Others need to realise the only way that they can get to these hidden away places is on roads often built by, and covered in gravel from, this local quarry. And my prejudice? A lot of these squeaky wheel voices are from those who have only just shown up in the neighbourhood and the locals will generally get my vote every time.
Despite romantic idealism Shortland and Monro’s vistas are lost to history and no amount of consenting will alter that.