Passenger lists for South Canterbury arrivals
Shipping Intelligence from the Timaru Herald 1864-1865
Search this site Wrecks at TimaruThe principal vessels with passengers for Timaru
Vessel Arrival Port Arrival Date Strathallan Timaru 14 Jan 1859 Echunga Timaru 16 Dec 1862 Lancashire Witch Timaru 13 Oct 1863 Victory Timaru 13 Oct 1863 Ivanhoe Lyttelton 12 June 1864 Edwin Fox (os) Lyttelton 27 June 1873 Peeress Lyttelton 24 July 1874 Atrato Lyttelton via Pt Chalmers 24 June 1874 Star of China (os) Lyttelton 1 Aug 1875 Merope Timaru 24 Sep 1875 Duke of Edinburgh Lyttelton 17 Nov 1875 Soukar (123 for Timaru) Lyttelton 24 Jan. 1876 Conflict Lyttelton (from Belfast) 29 Jan. 1876 Countess of Kintare Lyttelton 19 Apr 1876 Halcione Lyttelton 25 Aug 1876 Wiltshire Lyttelton 17 Feb 1877 Opawa Lyttelton 16 Apr 1877 Piako Lyttelton 15 May 1877 Wanganui Lyttelton 1 July 1877 William Davie (os) Lyttelton 1 July 1877 Waikato Lyttelton 27 July 1877 Waimate Lyttelton 3 Sept. 1877 Waimate (os) Lyttelton 7 Dec 1878 Crusader Lyttelton 14 Oct 1877 Waikato Lyttelton 27 Apr 1878 Opawa Lyttelton 7 Dec 1878 Arawata Lyttelton 9 Dec 1878 Claude Hamilton Lyttelton 9 Dec 1878 Warwick (os) Timaru Feb. 1879 Orthes Lyttelton 16 Feb 1879 Waikato Timaru 21 Jan 1879 Merope (os) Lyttelton 29 Jul 1879 Orari (os) (named TH 29 Jul '79) Lyttelton 26 July 1879 Waitangi Lyttelton 28 Sep 1879 Hereford Lyttelton 31 Dec. 1879 Opawa Lyttelton 25 Oct 1880 Rangitiki Lyttelton 17 Dec. 1880 British Queen (os) Lyttelton Apr 1883 British Queen Lyttelton Oct 1883 Takapuna Port Chalmers 13 Oct 1883 Waipa Lyttelton Oct 1883 Waitangi Lyttelton Jan 1884
The above list is created from newspaper reports and from the book "South Canterbury Early
Settlers and Immigrants - The Passenger Lists 1859-1884". A South
Canterbury Historical Society publication 1990. ODT March 1879 29th
'The nominated immigration list from Timaru last month comprised 121 souls.
page 19
os=offsite
From a zip file passenger lists
"Edwin Fox" 1873 to 1880.
Immigrants on the Edwin Fox destined for Canterbury,
NZ, arrived Port Lyttelton 1873, from the
list the following proceeded to Timaru
FRIEL Daniel Donegal 27 Farm Labourer FREIL Catherine Donegal 21 GREENE James Donegal 19 Farm Labourer HELAN Mary Middlesex 15 Servant ORR John Donegal 25 Farm Labourer ORR Alice Donegal 22 Servant ORR Catherine Donegal 20 Servant
Vessels with passengers for Timaru:
reference
'White
Wings'
| Huntress | Lyttelton | 21 Apr 1863 |
| Otaki | Lyttelton | 8 Feb 1876 |
| Ben Venue | Timaru | 5 May 1882 |
| Rakaia | Timaru | 8 Jan 1885 |
| Lochnagar | Timaru | 1 Nov 1885 |
| Lochnagar | Timaru | 25 Oct 1887 |
| Invercargill | Timaru | 4 Dec 1893 |
| Invercargill | Timaru | 16 Sep 1898 |
| Hermione | Timaru | 11 Sep 1899 |
| Taranaki | Timaru | 2 Oct 1899 |
The English ship, Strathallan, arrived with the first significant influx of 120 immigrants to Timaru in 1859.
The Victory, barque, 579 tons, from Southampton arrived at Timaru on October 13, 1863 with 231 passengers on board, 101 of which were landed at Timaru.
The Royal Stuart arrived in Lyttelton January 1855. Passengers includes Acland, Tripp, Maude and Teschemaker all later became pioneer run holders.
Rangitiki to Lyttelton Dec. 1880
Timaru Herald Friday 6 November 1874
A number of immigrants have arrived here lately, equal to nearly one hundred adults. On Tuesday, the 27th ult, the Maori brought forty-six adults, German immigrants from the Guttenburg at Lyttelton, comprising of five families and thirty-six single men, and on the same day the Bruce from Dunedin landed three men from the Jessie Readman. The single men were principally laborers, nearly all of whom went to work on the southern railway. On Wednesday last the Alhambra brought eight adults from the Chile at Nelson, and the Maori shortly afterwards arrived with a number from the Duke of Edinburgh at Lyttelton. Those by the latter vessel numbered thirty-nine and a half adults, comprising of six families and sixteen single men and two single women, the occupations of the men being as follows:
Six farm laborers
eleven laborers
two carpenters
two shoemakers
one stonemason
By yesterday all the tradesmen and farm laborers had found employment, and those of the laborers who were not engaged, had the opportunity of accepting work on the railway. The single women and girls fit for domestic servants, readily found situations. Several more single girls from the Duke of Edinburgh will arrive here by the next steamer from the North. During the voyage of the Maori from Lyttelton, James Carlette, aged fourteen months, a child of one of the immigrants, died of consumption. The body was buried in the Timaru cemetery on Wednesday afternoon.
The Star Monday 2nd August 1875
Arrived
August 2 - Star of China, ship, 707 tons, Blaker, from London; 20o Government immigrants. This fine composite ship, commanded by Captain E.W. Blaker, arrived in harbour on Sunday night. The Immigration Officers proceeded down to the ship this morning in the s.s. Mullogh and passed the vessel. The immigrants are all well, no deaths occurred during the voyage. We are sorry, however, to state that a married woman died this morning consequent upon her confinement. The immigrants will be landed to-morrow.
The Star 5 August 1875 pg 2
Lyttelton - Sailed
Aug. 5 - Beautiful Star, for Dunedin via Timaru. Passengers - Messrs Jones, Wilson and 40 Government immigrants ex Star of China.
9 Aug. 1875 Timaru Herald pg 2
Port of Timaru
Arrived: August 6 - Beautiful Star, ss, 146 tons, Pieterson, from Lyttelton.
The Star Monday 9 August 1875 pg2
Immigration - A number of immigrants, per the ship The Star of china, have been sent to the branch depots at Rakaia, Ashburton and Rangiora, and can be engaged there.Timaru Herald Wednesday 11 August 1875 pg 3
Immigrants at Waimate
Eight immigrants - single men - arrived at he immigration depot on Saturday last, and on Monday three married couples arrived from the Timaru Barracks.The Star Thursday February 17 1876
Arrival of the Rangitikei.
Captain Scotland is in command. Dr Ross is the surgeon-superintendent. 73 days from anchorage to anchorage pr 67 days from land to land. The Rangitikei left the London Docks on Nov. 29 and embarked 301 souls at Plymouth on Dec. 4. Two deaths have occurred, one a single girl, Jessie Capon, who died from hyperemia of the brain on Dec. 13, and the other a child of two tears, who died on Dec. 17. Two children were born on the passage. Whooping cough was rather prevalent. The nationality of the immigrants is pretty evenly divided between English and Irish, only a very few being Scotch. A splendid condenser. 53 girls occupied the single girls compartment., under charge of Mrs Blythen. Just six months and 27 days from the time of leaving this port and returned here again. Twelve families for Timaru and forty single men, will stay on board the ship for a day or two and will proceed to Timaru by rail. Left London Docks on Nov. 29, arrived in Plymouth on Dec. 1
The Star Saturday February 19 1876
Lyttelton - Magisterial
Combing to Disobey Orders - Eleven seaman belonging to the ship Rangitikei were charged by Captain Scotland with this offence. The Captain admitted that the forecastle was in a bad and wet state during the voyage. The Resident Magistrate sentenced each of them to four weeks' imprisonment with hard labour.
Timaru Herald
10 September 2002
In a year of royal significance, a Timaru man has given the South Canterbury Museum two royal statues brought to New Zealand in the 19th century. The statues of a young Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were brought from England to Timaru by Joseph Ellis, who travelled here with his wife and 12 children (the 13th child was born and then died on the journey), in 1859.
After immigrating to New Zealand, Mr Ellis became a councillor on the first Timaru council. He was also a publican at the Old Bank Tavern, then a pound keeper. He farmed at Kingsdown, where Ellis Road is named after him. Mr Ellis's grandson, Norman, handed over the family heirlooms to museum director Philip Howe yesterday. The statues, valued at around $600 each, had been handed down through generations of the Ellis family, but had been living in a drawer in Norman Ellis's home for the past few years. "They are the sort of thing people would have had as treasured possessions in the 19th century." Mr Howe said considering what an immigrating family had to take to the new country, that the statues were shipped to New Zealand in the first place was quite remarkable.
____________
Joseph Ellis was born in 1829 and married 23 Feb. 1852, he and his wife came on the "Clontarf" in 1859. He was the first bricklayer in Timaru, a carter and contractor, proprietor of the Old Bank Tavern, a farmer at Springbank and Kingsdown, a member of the Timaru Town Board. His son Joseph was born in Timaru in 1860. He had six sons and four daughters and 33 grandchildren.