The Benvenue Cliffs and Dashing Rocks, Timaru
After the Storm, Timaru Beach by John Gibb.
This 1883 oil painting is at the
Auckland Art Museum
The Wreck of
the Benvenue and City of Perth
If you visit Timaru take time and walk along Caroline Bay. The northern car park on the bay is the start of the Benvenue Cliffs / Dashing Rocks one hour walk. Plaques nailed to a post commemorates lost ships and the walk gives the best view of the harbour. Pick up an information brochure from the historic bluestone, 1870 Landing Services Building on George near the railway station. There are also rock pools depending on the tide with starfish, crabs and other little creatures.
Terrible Calamity at Timaru - the day was Sunday; the sky was clear and bright, and there was absolutely no wind. A mountainous sea was running, with neither wind nor rain to keep down the swell. Wreck of the Ben Venue and City of Perth on 14 May 1882. Nine men died including the harbour-master.
The Star Wednesday 24 May 1882
Timaru - OLAREN -
The body of William Olaren, boatman, one of the unfortunate fellows who was
drowned on Sunday week, washed ashore at Dashing Rock this afternoon, and was
taken charge of by the police.
Timaru Herald Monday 14 November 1887 Funeral Notice
KERR - Accidentally drowned at Dashing Rocks, near Timaru, on the 12th Nov.,
Harry [Henry], second son of E.G. Kerr; aged nine years. Funeral notice. Residence Great
South Road. J.E. Beckingham, Undertaker. Buried 14th Nov.
FILMER - Accidentally drowned at Dashing Rocks, near Timaru, Eleanor Louise
[Ellen],
eldest child of George Filmer; aged eleven years. Buried 14 Nov.
Inquest Tuesday 15th Nov. page 4.
Held yesterday morning at Green's Commercial Hotel, before J.S. Beswick, Esq.,
coroner. The jury: Messrs W.G. Drummond (foreman), W. Davies, J. Murray, J.D.
Robertson, W. Ballantyne, and C. Reilly.
Edith Agnes Kerr, daughter of Mr E.G. Kerr and sister of the deceased Henry
Stanley Kerr.
Maud Kerr. - aged 15. Oldest of the party of ten who had gone to Dashing Rocks
for a picnic.
Charley Kerr, youngest brother to Harry.
Mary McGuinness with the party.
May McGuinness - unconscious.
Joseph Betly - freezing works employee.
Mr Lees freezing works employee heard screams
Dunford - freezing works employee
Newton - freezing works employee
Joseph Daniel Kett - publican
Mr Con. McGuiness
William Ferrier photographer.
31st July 2007, Timaru.
Five metre swells and rain. Heavy surf
pounded the South Canterbury coast and knocked rocks off the eastern extension
at the Port of Timaru and the archway off Dashing Rocks on the Smithfield beach,
that has been a feature of the area for many years and the
second archway that was forming to the east of the existing landform, leaving
just a remnant of the cliffs isolated amongst the rocks.
The hole in the rock.
Timaru Herald, 25 August 1894, Page 2
An old seafaring man spoken to on the subject said he always looked for bad
weather soon after a display of aurora.
Don't turn your back on the sea.
Timaru Herald, 29 December 1887, Page 2
A tremendous mass of stone has been put down in front of the cliffs adjoining
the wreck of the Benvenue, and this stone should effectively protect the cliff.
Strangely enough the heavy seas are carrying away masses of the cliff to
southward of. Splashing Point, and the beach there is so denuded of rocks and
shingle as to expose to view the original bottom of the Waimataitai lagoon,
which at one time had a northern outlet close by the cliff. A large number of
pieces of old driftwood have also been washed out by the sea.
North Otago Times, 15 May 1899, Page 2 Timaru, May 14.
An immense southerly sea sprang up on Saturday afternoon, and caused a fatality.
At 4,30 a block shifted on the parapet of the break water, and several men
employed on the works went to the end of the wharf, to see it. R. Catlow, a man
in the prime of life, was a few yards ahead of the others, and was standing by
the rail at the end of the wharf, when a sea broke on the breakwater and carried
him into the harbor. Boats were out a few minutes after, but he was seen once
only, and they failed to recover him. Catlow was a married man, with four
children, and was a valued workman. The body has not, at 5 p m. today, been
recovered. The sea is still running heavily.
Band Stand. Caroline Bay looking north.
Caroline Bay 1976 - note the Port Loop Road.
Caroline Bay from Benvenue Cliffs.
Tanner Bros. Postcard
Rough sea near Timaru.
Lure of the Sea, by J. L. Patterson
There's the force of a world, at its primal strength,
In these rollers long and green;
As they thunder along in their measureless might,
And their majesty serene.
Taranaki Herald, 15 August 1883, Page 2
The sea was particularly heavy along the Timaru coast last week. The dashing of the waves against the rocks caused a loud, intermittent, booming sound in that town, exactly resembling the firing of heavy cannon at a distance of a few miles. This is the grandiloquous style the Timaru Herald describes it — " Is was a fierce bombardment of the Dashing Rocks by Neptune's artillery, and such was the force of the waves that Le Cren's Terrace perceptibly trembled under the shock, causing the windows of the houses to rattle in their casements."
Caroline Bay 1st January 2009
Caroline Bay Jan. 10 2009
Caroline Bay, 1st March 2009
