Jumping trout: the New Zealand town of Gore, famed for its fishing, has subsumed the Victorian settlement called Croydon, named after its founder’s childhood home
SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: Of the various places called ‘Croydon’ around the world, the one on New Zealand’s south island has a particularly well-recorded history, as DAVID MORGAN found out
Frontiersman: Nathaniel Chalmers was a Victorian adventurer
Nathaniel Chalmers was a pioneer and a frontiersman, one of the people in the Victorian era who left their home in the relative safety of Croydon to pursue a new life, and fortune, overseas.
Born in Scotland in 1830, Chalmers grew up in Croydon after his father moved south to take up an appointment to the staff of the East India College in Addiscombe. Once he was of school age, Nathaniel was sent to Christ’s Hospital School, then in the City of London, where he became a “Blue Coat”.
After leaving school aged 15, he went to work in a shipbroker’s office in Liverpool. In 1847, he got a position in the London branch of the Royal Bank of Australia.
Two years later, in 1849, Nathaniel and Gerit, his brother, made their life-changing decision and boarded SS Ajax bound for Otago, New Zealand.
The brothers took two 50-acre blocks of land at Omaru Bush and Moa Hill near Kaihiku.
In 1852, the pair tried their luck at gold mining at Forest Creek in Victoria, Australia. When they failed to make their fortune there, they returned to New Zealand, but this time to the southern-most tip of South Island, in the area where Invercargill now stands.
Community events: social gatherings were important in keeping the people in the new settlement together
It was said that the Chalmers brothers were the first to bring sheep into the Southland area of New Zealand.
As well as a farming pioneer, Nathaniel Chalmers was also an adventurer and explorer, setting off for the interior of the island which had never before been visited by a non-Maori. He was the first European to view Lake Wakatipu, but the journey proved costly to his health, as he suffered with debilitating bouts of dysentery.
In 1856, Chalmers married Ellen McGrath, who had emigrated to New Zealand from the Channel Islands.
Chalmers undertook various agricultural projects, including a cattle drive to Dunedin, before purchasing the Hokanui ranch in 1858. He renamed the area “Croydon”, after the English town where he grew up.
In the southern portion of this plot of land, in 1862, 12 sections were marked out, the beginnings of the town of Gore. A census from 1863 showed the Gore District had 131 inhabitants, 97 men and 34 women.
New arrivals continued to join the settlement. Farmsteads were built, new communities began to grow. Chalmers, however, only remained in the new Croydon for three more years.
A court judgement was obtained in 1861 against the Superintendent of Otago, for a debt over failed payments to do with sheep. Chalmers saw James MacAndrew imprisoned for his failure to pay his debts to him. But the court case also left Chalmers in an extremely difficult financial situation. It meant that he had to sell his Croydon ranch and move to Invercargill.
Chalmers’ Croydon moved on without Chalmers.
The railway came to Gore in 1875. A sawmill was opened and adverts from 1877 were distributed informing the farmsteaders that they could supply all their fencing needs. Fence posts in all sizes were available and were “always pointed” at the lowest prices.
In 1888, a new settlement was planned with about 30 houses near the sawmill. Named Croydon Bush, it was developed on land which was very scrubby. George Biggar said that he could get 32 settlers who would be able to have 20 or 25 acres. Biggar and another man was charged going to the Southland Land Board and presenting the petition asking for the new development.
The locals were keen to preserve some of the natural bush and 200 acres were identified. Further areas were included later to make up a nature reserve.
A rabbit meat processing plant was opened in Gore because of the large number of the creatures found in the wild in those early days. In 1897, “rabbiters” were receiving 5d per pair of rabbits brought in to the newly opened freezing plant in the nearby village of Mataura.
Signs of growth: settlers had been lobbying for a school for several years
A school was opened in Croydon on December 10 1883. It was a strange time to start, as in only a fortnight it closed again for the Christmas holidays. The locals, though, had been clamouring for a school for a while, so once the school building and the teacher’s house were complete, the school opened, with 34 pupils from 12 families.
When it reopened on January 7, 1884, another 12 pupils attended. The first teacher was Joseph Kilburn. Macdonald Reahy was the first chair of the Education Board with Charles Williams the secretary. Family surnames in the initial register included Campion, Edwards, Falcon Kingdon and Terry.
In the early days of the school, before there were such positions as truant officers, there was much absenteeism at harvest time. Hired labour was expensive for the homesteaders, so older children were needed on the farm.
In 1901, the school register recorded two families that were sending 10 children each, two sent nine each and several six or seven. The mothers of those large families also baked the bread and made the butter for their children to take to school for their lunches.
The Gore and Surrounding Districts Early Settlers’ Association was invaluable in helping newcomers to the area. One of the early driving forces of this group was George Biggar, who came to Croydon in 1881. Born in Scotland, he arrived in New Zealand with his parents in 1861. He was a keen botanist and ornithologist who became an expert on local flora and fauna. He was one of the principal figures in getting a community hall built and he was invariably the residents’ choice to chair local meetings.
On the occasion of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee in 1887, Biggar dragged a huge amount of scrub and brush to the top of the highest peak of the nearby Hokonui Hills so that a beacon could be lit in her honour.
Fly past: Croydon in New Zealand has a historical air centre
The local papers, The Mataura Ensign, Southland Times, Taranaki Daily News and The Otago Daily Times printed a multitude of stories which today provide a great reference for different study groups.
In a rural community, get-togethers were an important feature of community life. Births, deaths and marriages were all followed by a “tea” of some description. The Croydon Hall hosted many of these events.
Old Mr Biggar presided over such an evening in the hall in 1927 to say farewell to an elderly resident who was leaving Croydon after many years to go and live in the nearby town of Gore. “The evening was devoted to dancing to excellent music supplied by Bain’s orchestra from Gore,” reported The Southland Times.
Some social events took place in the school hall. “The Croydon branch of the Gore Congregational Church held a social on Friday last. There was a crowded house to partake of an excellent repast prepared by the ladies of the District.” This was a report in The Mataura Ensign from September 1892.
In 1900, a farewell social for a local minister, Rev Lyon, saw him presented with a “well-filled bag of sovereigns”, as a mark of the affection the locals held for him and his wife.
An evening of euchre, card games, and dance was held in 1934 to raise funds to buy firewood for the school. Miss McLean won the ladies’ prize and Mr Mason, the men’s. A “Monte Carlo waltz” held during the evening was won by Rita Morrison and partner.
There were many socials held to give send offs to men going off to fight in the Great War. There were some, though fewer, held to give thanks for their safe return. In all, 22 young men from Croydon went off to fight for the Empire. Five were sons of George Biggar. Nineteen of that group had gone to school in Croydon. Four of them were killed in action.
With the arrival of the motor car, the isolation of a community like Croydon ended. And in time, so did many of the village activities.
Pioneer: the report of Chalmers’ death in Fiji in 1910
The Anglican church, a branch of Holy Trinity, Gore, held a monthly service in Croydon until May 1930. The locals said in a meeting that several of their number had left the area and those who remained could motor into the nearby town.
Today, the town of Gore has grown to a population of almost 8,500. Croydon still exists but has been swallowed up by urban advance. If you visit, you can stay at the Croydon Lodge Hotel and fish for brown trout in the nearby river. Like Croydon in England, Croydon in New Zealand has a Historic Aviation Centre nearby, where you can see vintage aircraft up close and even book a trip in a Tiger Moth.
Little did Nathaniel Chalmers know what the future held for his new Croydon.
He never lost his wanderlust though. Chalmers moved to Fiji, running a plantation and becoming a magistrate. Croydon frontiersman Chalmers, who had explored the southernmost parts of New Zealand, joined the Victorian gold rush and dispensed the law in the South Pacific, was 81 when he died in Suva in 1910.
David Morgan, pictured, is a former Croydon headteacher, now the volunteer education officer at Croydon Minster who offers tours or illustrated talks on the history around the Minster for local community groups
If you would like a group tour of Croydon Minster or want to book a school visit, then ring the Minster Office on 020 688 8104 or go to the website on www.croydonminster.org and use the contact page
Some previous articles by David Morgan:
- Veteran of Albuera and New Orleans who policed the Cape
- Enter the Almshouses and travel back in time four centuries
- The church fire that consumed a thousand years of history
PAID ADS: To advertise your services or products to our 10,000 weekday visitors to the site, as featured on Google News Showcase, email us inside.croydon@btinternet.com for our unbeatable ad rates
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
As featured on Google News Showcase
- Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here
Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network
Great, great piece . . thanks David. My how I laughed at the phrase, ‘Nathaniel … left ‘his’home in the relative safety of Croydon’! That was then. And this is now!