The old Orari Gorge farm buildings, South Canterbury, N.Z.
Round the round world on a church mission. By Rev.
G. Edward Mason, 1892 pg 378 -379
When I left my friend at Timaru, my destination was Orari Gorge, where I was to
spend a night with Mr. Tripp at his sheep station. After an hour in the train, I
found a boy with two horses waiting for me at the Orari station. I packed up a
few things in a bundle, and we rode off. The view of the snowy range was lovely.
It was about half-past four, and the distance to
Orari Gorge was fourteen miles,
so the sun had set long before we got in. But a crescent moon gave a fair light.
The road was shingly and bad, and we had to ford several small creeks. The
comfortable house is prettily situated just under the hills, which are covered
with bush ; and the bush is full of bell-birds, and tuis, and Australian
magpies, a kind of crow with white back and patches of white on the wings. We
awoke in the morning to find snow falling heavily and the ground all white.
After breakfast my kind host lent me strong boots and gaiters, and we tramped
about to see the place. The sheep-run is a very large one. It extends some
twenty or twenty-five miles, and includes all the " Four Peaks " Mountain. The
sheep are merinos and half-breds. We saw a number of grand merinoes, with huge,
curly horns like a Dutch woman's head-dress, made to walk through a solution of
bluestone to prevent sheep-rot. There are two shearings, a dry and a wet. The
wet shearing means the shearing of the ewes that have lambs, which are then
weaned and are not old enough to be weaned at the earlier shearing, which takes
place in November. The largest number ever shorn on this run in one year was
forty-nine thousand. Every winter some two or even three thousand sheep are
likely to be lost in the snow. After a heavy fall the shepherds go out to search
for them and dig them out. They are discovered by the holes which their breath
melts in the snow. For the convenience of the shepherds there are furnished huts
at different points among the hills.
The sheep are housed the night before they are shorn, in order to keep the wool
dry, otherwise it would generate heat. The wool-shed is very like a large
church. There is a centre gangway, and on either side of the gangway pens, like
pews. Then outside the pews on either side is an aisle, where the
shearers—twenty-eight in number— work. The sheep are passed out from the pens
into the aisles, and when a sheep is shorn it is turned out through a window
into a pen outside the shed ; and there the sheep are counted. A shearer gets
17s. 6d. or 18s. for shearing a hundred, and he can shear a hundred to a hundred
and eighty a day. A boy at the end of the aisle collects the fleeces and puts
them on to a sort of dresser, where a man inspects them and sorts them into
first combing, second combing, first clothing, and second clothing, according to
quality. The fleeces are pressed in a screw machine and shunted into a side
chamber below, where they are packed in large bales. It takes three men to lift
a bale. The bales are backed in large waggons, drawn by eight horses, to the
station. At the wharf the bales are again pressed into one-half their bulk. The
sheep are dipped once a year in some solution. The mob is driven in and round a
race. A decoy cage full of sheep is used to tempt them on, and they fall into
the dip, and a man pushes them well in. They scramble out on the other side and
stand in the pens, which slope back to the dip, until they have done dripping.
Mr. Tripp pays £3000 a year in wages. The men get from 20s. to 30s. a week, and
all found. There is a resident blacksmith, a saddler, a black cook, and a
rabbiter, who is paid 15s (shillings) and 6d (pence) a skin.
The men sleep in two rooms, full of " bunks " like a ship. They make their own candles from mutton fat. Fifteen mules are kept. They are more hardy, more sure-footed, and better weightcarriers than horses. I saw two " sun-downers " sitting round a fire in their apartment. A sundowner is a traveller who begs for a lodging at sundown. By the hospitable rule of the country every traveller is allowed bed and breakfast. But they are expected to clear out in the morning. I rode part of the way up the gorge. The scenery is very fine. Mount Peel towers up to a great height above the swift Orari river. After lunch I drove to the station and reached Ashburton in the evening, and began the mission. Heavy sleet, hail, and snow fell at night, and there was a hard frost.
The saddlery / coach house used to contain a buggy. The fireplace was not for
warming the grooms but to keep the harness pliable. A similar situation is still
found at Blue Cliffs.
Charles Tripp first settled at Orari
Gorge in 1855 and the station is now owned by his descendants, the Peacock
family. A photo study of the historic buildings
at Orari Gorge Station, up the Tripp settlement Rd, by
M.T. This is
private property 16km NW of Geraldine. Call Mr. and Mrs. R. Peacock to ask
permission to view the historic buildings. The photos
were taken 1st May 2010. "We had a glorious hour roaming the yards up there. It
was wonderful...fresh air, native birds, historic buildings..a great experience
with so many memories of my younger days up there wrote Margaret.
map
New
Zealand Historic Places -
category 1. "...places of ‘special or outstanding historical or
cultural heritage significance or value" under the New Zealand Historic Places
Act 1993" The Historic Places Trust had taken over the buildings in the
1970s and finished restoration work in 2009. The only building left to repair
was the stables. "Robert Smith, Acland and Tripp's head man, built the first of the
farm buildings in 1859-60 - a Slab Cottage to live in and a Whata. Smith was
followed by William Hudson, who was Tripp's station manager at Orari Gorge
Station from 1865. Hudson added to the farm building complex further with the
building of a Blacksmith's Shop, a Saddlery/Coach House and Stables. "
The three storey stables, c. 1870, with southerly storm clouds coming in.
Sure looks like an old woolshed.
There are plans to restore this building once the money is raised.
The smithy c. 1866-67 is original, has a fireplace and a vent in the roof.
February 2009 The Newsletter of the Governors Bay
Community Association
When my great grandfather, Charles Tripp, built his homestead at Orari Gorge
Station in the 1860s he planted a “lovely” row of sycamores up the driveway. The
valley behind the homestead is filled with a very significant stand of native
bush. For some years I suggested to my father that he ought to remove the
sycamores as they were spreading into the bush, but he never did. After his
death, my sister, who now owns the property, had them removed. She has already
spent a considerable amount removing a large stand of them in the bush. She
employs a tree surgeon three times annually to remove larger ones further in.
Not so long ago she told me she would be spending the rest of her life pulling
sycamores out of the bush. If you are thinking of retaining sycamores in your
garden, then please consider your neighbours, who are unlikely to appreciate an
annual crop of sycamore seedlings in their gardens, and the problem you may be
causing future generations.
— Dick Tripp
This huge homestead with a steeped pitched corrugated iron roof, at least eight fireplaces, ten gables, gable trim with finials, is situated below the historical farm buildings and is still surround by native bush and a lovely large sheltered garden with rhododendrons that peak at the end of October. The photo only captures a back corner of the old homestead. The homestead has been added on to over the years. Note the chimney pot and the native totara. A run holder rarely built a two-storied house unless he was a very large runholder. It was usually a one story house with a sitting room and square kitchen in the middle and a bedroom on each wing and along the front and one side a verandah about twelve feet wide.
TRIPP, Charles George, 1826-1897
Tripp was the son of the Rev. Charles Tripp of Silverton rectory and was born in
Devonshire ... with J.B.A. Acland, Tripp stocked several runs in the back
country of South Canterbury and settled at Orari Gorge in the 1860s. Tripp was
for many years chairman of the Geraldine County Council and a prominent member.
The station in 2010 is still in the family.
Timaru
District plan for
schedule of heritage buildings, structures, and sites and significant trees at
Tripp Settlement Rd RS 3308 B include:
60 Orari Gorge Station Homestead
61 Orari Gorge Station Woolshed
90 Fagus sylvatica "Purpurea" (Copper Beach)
91 Hoheria angustifolia (Houhi Puruhi)
92 Eucalyptus viminalis (Manna Gum)
93 Eucalyptus viminalis (Manna Gum)
Gum trees that were among the first trees planted to provide shelter round the
homestead.
The much altered old woolshed has a new woolshed
attached behind it.
The 1½ story totara slab cottage originally
constructed in 1859 with a door on the second floor to the outside but
reconstructed in 1960. This door was used to lift furniture into the second story
as the stairwell inside would have been to narrow. Down Milton St., Nelson
you can still see cottages built in the 1860s with this feature. The two
roomed extension along the rear is an addition.
The Whata, c. 1860 is a raised station store house that
combines early European and Maori building influences - English granaries
and Maori food stores. Corrugated iron covers shingles. The brick was added ten
years after construction. Has a rectangular hipped roof, a sloping side and a
sloping end, so snow will slide off. One advantage of a hip roof is that
it has eaves all round that protect the walls from the weather and help to shade
the walls from the sun, thus helping to cool the structure. A gable roof does
not shade the walls at the gables.
The reconstructed slab cadet building attached to the cottage c. 1865, backed by
native bush with cabbage trees to the right..
Books and Articles
Orari Gorge Station, South Canterbury, homestead by
G. L. Pitts - Farmhouses - 1966 - 2 pages
Weekly News; 30 March 1966 p 43; Auckland City Libraries
John Barton Acland founded the Orari Gorge Station with Charles Tripp in 1866. A
brief history of this huge property and the Tripp family, who are still the
present owners.
Harper, Barbara Owen (Griffiths), (1908-1984) The Kettle on the Fuchsia: The Story of Orari Gorge / by Barbara Harper. Wellington: A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1967 (reprint 1967). Orari Gorge Station history owned by the Tripp family. 172 p., h/b, illustrated d/j, b/w photos, ill., maps on ends pages, bibliographical references and index. History of Charles Tripp and his descendants on Orari Gorge Station, a station in South Canterbury, inland from Geraldine, over 112 years of prosperity, depression and development was largely resourced from six tin trunks of family records. In 1854 Barton Acland and Charles Tripp took possession of their land at Mt Peel. The cook, Mrs Smith hung her kettle on a fuchsia tree. Acland stayed at Mt Peel and Tripp moved on to Orari Gorge. The Tripp homestead is still one of South Canterbury's showpieces.
Harper, Barbara, 1908- Memoirs of L. O. H. Tripp
Tripp, L. O. H. (Leonard Owen Howard), 1862-1957
Timaru, N.Z.: Herald Printing, 1958.
Lovell-Smith, Mary : Beauty in necessity; Mary Lovell-Smith visits the kitchen garden at Orari Gorge Station. Ill Gardens ; Press, 26 Oct 2002; p.D20 49cm
Tripp, Ellen Shephard (Harper), 1834-1916. My early days.
Family origins, the voyage out, marriage and life at Mount Peel Station and
Orari Gorge Station, etc. Reprinted 1920, 1929, 1995 (21 p.).
Printed by Geo R. Joyce, 1915. 16 p. The Lyttelton Times, 1916
Tales of pioneer women: collected by the Women's institutes of NZ
Airini Elizabeth Woodhouse, New Zealand Women ... - 1940 - 337 pages
TRIPP, OF ORARI GORGE By Mary Herbert Tripp, Arundel WI .This is the story of my
husband's mother, old Mrs. Tripp, of Orari Gorge.
Blakiston, A.J. My yesteryears.
The Timaru Herald Company, 1952.
Blakiston, Arthur John 1862-?
Orari Gorge Station (N.Z.)
Tripp, John Mowbray Howard (-1940) Died aged 70 years at
Silverton, Geraldine. Born Orari Gorge Station
Otago Daily Times Monday October 14 2005, p.1940 9 Mr J M H Tripp.
Obituary
Bennett, Theophilus (1881-1956)
Otago Daily Times May 19 1956, p.4
Awarded Military Medal
Born Orari Gorge Station, Canterbury
Tripp Settlement (26,887 acres), 27 sections on renewable lease, 8 March 1910
Ashburton Guardian, 16 March 1910, Page 2 ORARI GORGE SALE
The sale of stock from the Orari Gorge station, part of which has just been
allotted to selectors as the Tripp Settlement, was begun at the homestead on
Tuesday in fine weather. There was a large attendance, estimated at 1200, and the
drafting yards presented an animated appearance. The station grounds looked
their best and the successful applicants for the Tripp Settlement sections saw
their property under ideal conditions. The auctioneers, Messrs Guinness and Le Cren, and Dalgety and Company, made rapid progress with the various lots on the
catalogue, which comprised all the sheep (25,000) and a number of cattle. The
prices realised were very satisfactory, and at times the bidding was
particularly brisk. Only one runholder amongst the successful applicants was a
buyer. Most of the buyers hailed from South Canterbury, and the bulk of the
stock was sold to local farmers. The following is a list of sales: A line of 560
fat lambs at 14s 8d...
Ashburton Guardian, 12 March 1910, Page 3 THE TRIPP SETTLEMENT
THE BALLOT.
TIMARU, March 12. The ballot for sections in the Tripp Settlement took place
to-day. The following are the successful applicants:
Section I. � Michael
Lyons, Christchurch.
Section 2. � Helen Yates, Albury
Section 3. � Henry Stephen Smith, Belfield
Section 4. � James Burt, Cust.
Section 5. � Clara Thomas, Shirley, Christchurch. Fourteen applicants
Section 6. � Michael Martin Leonard, Waimate
Section 7. � Jessie A. Smith, Temuka
Section 8. � Sydney Herbert Lapthorne, Cave
Section 9. � James Dunbar, Blenheim. Eight applicants
Section 11.� John Mitchell Lyons, Akaroa
Section 12.� John Joseph Stack, St. Andrews
Section 13.� Isabel M. Gray, Washdyke
Section 14.� Alfred Sydney Crowe, West Oxford
Section 15.� James Walsh, Gleniti, Timaru
Section 16.� Maurice Leonard, Kerrytown
Section 17.� Hugh McDonnell, Rakaia
Section 18.� F. George Theodore Richards, Geraldine
Section 19.� George Ginny Webb, Hanmer Springs
Section 20.� James R. Toshack, Medbury
Section 23.� William Alexander Hewson, Geraldine
Section 24.� Margaret Elsie Priest, Timaru
Section 30 and 25.� Isabella Titheradge, Orari Bridge
Section 26.� Paul Studholme Barker, Woodbury
Section 27.� Albert George Cappill, Pleasant Point. Sixteen applicants.
Two hundred and thirty-two applicants were examined at Temuka, and 85 at
Christchurch. Thirty-seven applications were rejected, and six withdrawn.