2

Part of William Horner‟s subdivision Plan, showing the locarion

of “Springlands” at the corner of Papanui Road, and

“Accomodation Road” which became Grants Road.

3

The Tea Caddy.

This landmark building of 16 rooms stood on the

property at 456 Papanui Road for over 100 years, before

it was demolished after the Seventh Day Adventist

Church, who owned adjoining land, bought it in 1963.

The first building, that was later added onto, was

brought to New Zealand as a prefabricated wooden house

by the Rev. George Dunnage, on board the „Fatima‟ that

arrived from England in December 1851.

“Owing to bad roads, or the want of roads, cartage

from the „Ferry‟ to Papanui was 2 pounds 10 shillings

per ton. A Mr. Archer had the contract and used a team

of eight bullocks and found a ton weight quite a

sufficient load.” Dunnage also brought out a carpenter

to erect the building. (J. C. Rae.)

The house, with its outside walls and roof covered

with felt and tarred, was visible for a long distance. This

cladding was later replaced with weatherboards.

The Dunnage‟s selected the 50 acres to which they

were entitled under the Canterbury Association land

order, on the „North Road‟ (Papanui Road) and they paid

three pounds per acre for it. This selection was known as

Rural Section 304.

Today the boundaries of this property would be:

Papanui Road, Main North Road, Proctor Street and

Grants Road. The section was mainly swamp with just

three acres of dry land.

4

The property was sold in 1859 to George Duncan

Lockhart, who was a station owner and a stock and station

agent. At this time the property was called „Springlands‟.

In 1862 Lockhart sold the property to Rev. Dr. Lillie, a

Doctor of Divinity and a Presbyterian Minister. Under his

ownership the house became known for its hospitality and was

nicknamed „THE TEA CADDY‟. After Dr. Lillie‟s death in

1866 the property was lived in by Alfred Cox and then

John Thomas Matson.

In 1873 William Horner, the Papanui blacksmith, bought

the property for 2,600 pounds, and it was during his time that

most of the original 50 acres were sold off.

(see booklet, „William Horner‟s 50 acres. R.S.304.‟ )

5

As the land was split up for subdivision, he gave the

streets family names: Mary, after his wife; Loftus

(shortened from Lofthouse) where Mary was born;

Proctor, Mary‟s maiden name; Frank, after their 10th child;

James, after another son, and Horner Street.

By 1898 the homestead property was down to

10 acres bounded by Papanui Road, Grants Road, Frank

Street, and what later became Gambia Street. The grounds

had become very neglected by this time when Henry Tisch

bought it. He soon had landscape gardeners in to re-design

the grounds and to restore the lake that previous owners

had filled with empty kerosene tins.

“The ornamental lake was surrounded with lawns

and tall pines. The summer-house was on piles in the mid-

dle of the lake - a little gem, pagoda shape, with latticed

walls and an iron-railed promenade outside, a trapdoor in

the floor for bathing.”

From a piece written by a Tisch family member we

know, “On the property was a large 2 story building,

consisting of a coach house, harness room, “oats” room,

and 4 horse stalls, each separated by substantial kauri

partitions, and floored with dressed granite. Over each

horse feed-box there was a hay-rack, supplied through

an opening in the top floor, through which the hay

(stored in abundance) was fed through to the racks. This

large building ultimately became the joinery works of

T. Henshall and Sons, Building Contractors, and later

the Papanui Timber Co”.

After the death of Henry Tisch in 1903 the house and

one acre of land was sold to the Rev. Adamson.

6

In 1921 the house was bought back into the Dunnage

family when it was purchased by F.W. Dunnage,

grandson of the Rev. George Dunnage. He and his wife

lived there for 40 years until it went up for sale in 1963.

The property was at that time known as “Gayhurst”.

The Historic Places Trust suggested that the city buy

the property and preserve it as a museum; but to no avail.

One of the features of the house was the

„floating staircase‟ brought out from England with the

original house. This was an unsupported stairway spiraling

upwards in a continuous curve. The mahogany handrail was

supported with cast iron balusters. The staircase rails were

preserved and built into a side entrance as step rails to a

house at 407 Papanui Road .

HORNER HOME IN PAPANUI ROAD SHOWING THE FLOATING STAIRCASE

7

Over the years people have remarked on the marble

mantelpieces, elegant crystal chandeliers, and the two

glass conservatories. Although many parties were held in

the large drawing-room. the kitchen was very inconvenient

with a vast concrete sink. There was no bathroom in the early

days, but they had a huge square wooden trough with a

cold water tap.

Architectural features included dormer and bay windows,

changing roof levels, wide verandas, and many chimneys.

An outside staircase led to two attics with steeply-sloping ceilings

and papered beams. These, with another indoor attic, were part of

the original building.

Today the Elms Hotel and the Tall Trees Motel stand

on the site of the historic homestead,

„THE TEA CADDY.”

8

Rev. George Dunnage.

George Dunnage (born 1803 - London) and Mary

(born c1808) were married in July 1829 before going to the new

settlement of Swan River in Western Australia. Being very

disappointed with the situation there they returned to England in

1831 with their young son George. It was then that George went

into the ministry, later being appointed in charge of the Church of

England at Mainz on the Rhine. He was there for about 10 years.

They were living in Kirkby, Lonsdale, Westmoreland,

England before coming to New Zealand.

Rev. George Dunnage who had been appointed the First

Vicar of Papanui, left Gravesend, England on the 12 September

1851, aboard the “Fatima” as the ship‟s Chaplain. He was

accompanied by his wife Mary and 5 children: George, Robert,

William and 2 daughters.

Before arriving at Lyttelton on the 27th December 1851,

George had suffered a stroke and fell victim to paralyses. He

died about eighteen months later on the 19 May 1853, before he

could take up his position with the church. George Dunnage‟s

name is the first in the register of deaths at St. Paul‟s, Papanui.

His wife Mary who died in September 1891 is buried at St. Paul‟s

with George, along with their son George and his wife Louisa,

and a granddaughter, and a great grandson.

9

George Duncan Lockhart.

In 1859 George Duncan Lockhart is thought to have

purchased the property, but it is hard to say if he lived in the

house or just had a financial interest in it.

L.G.D. Acland states in his book, „The Early Canterbury

Runs‟, “the Canterbury Association‟s run book gives

E.M. Templer as the first lessee of Run 26, on the same date

(September 1851). Probably George Duncan Lockhart who at

the time lived at Coringa, was a partner of Templer in Sandy

Knolls. He was also a licensee of Valetta (Run 58), leaseholder

of Kenilworth Station on the Ashburton river”.

He also had a „town house‟ in Cashel Street.

Rev. Dr. John Lillie.

John Lillie was born in Glasgow in 1806, educated at the

University of Glasgow (M.A., Doctor of Divinity) and licensed

by the Church of Scotland Presbytery of Glasgow. He was also a

tutor to the Duke of Argyll‟s children.

He was appointed by the Church of Scotland and Colonial

Committee to Australia, and he arrived there on the “North

Briton” on 4th October,1837. He was the minister of

St. Andrew‟s Church in Hobart from 1837 to March 1859, when

he resigned and returned to the United Kingdom.

John married Mary Gascoigne Burnett at St. Andrew‟s on

the 1st June 1838.

He came to New Zealand in 1861 where he was involved in

finance and grazing. In 1863-1864 he was a minister within the

Christchurch Presbytery but his name was not linked with any

parish.

John died in January 1866 while living at „Springlands‟.

He was 59, and was buried at the Addington Cemetery.

10

Alfred Cox.

Alfred Cox was born in New South Wales, Australia, in

June 1825, the son of William Cox who retired there when he left

the Army. Alfred married Mary McPherson (born May 1830) at

All Saints Church, Parramatta, on the 26th November 1849.

Alfred had an interest in Runs 18 and 31, and had made

several trips to New Zealand from Australia with sheep, cattle,

and horses before he came to settle in 1857. He bought and sold

several Runs and had his „town house‟ in Papanui - Springlands‟.

The Timaru Herald states that the Cox family went to live

at Raukapuka in 1858, and they left the district for Christchurch

in April 1869. From Christchurch he went to the Waikato “and

lost most of his ample fortune trying to drain some swamp up

there.” He then returned to Christchurch.

Alfred died in May 1911 aged 85 and is buried at St. Paul‟s

cemetery with his wife Mary who died in August 1899.

“10. The town house. Many runholders had houses in Christchurch and lived part if not most of their time in town. This Barker photograph shows Alfred Cox of Raukapuka and his family at their Papanui home.”

11

John Thomas Matson.

John Thomas Matson, son of Henry and Alicia

Matson, was born in Victoria in 1845. After the death of his

mother he came to New Zealand with his father in January

1862, aged 17. John returned to Australia to marry Marion

Thomas in 1864.

It is not known when John went to „Springlands‟ and

he may have only leased the property, as he settled at

„Springfield‟, St. Albans, in the 1860s. This homestead was

in Springfield Road but

the property also fronted

Papanui Road where his

ostriches and other

animals could be seen

from the tram as it passed.

In 1883 the Lyttel-

ton Times announced that

Mr. Matson had just

arrived back from Austra-

lia with the first ostriches.

Feathers from the

ostriches were made into

fans and given to Queen

Victoria and the Princess

of Wales. Mrs Matson had a display at the Canterbury

Exhibition in 1906.

John was an auctioneer and he conducted the first

Canterbury Wool Sale. He built up a very successful

business.

It was John Matson who paid for the bells at St. Paul‟s

Church. John and his wife are both buried in the large

family plot at St. Paul‟s. John died in April 1895 at the age

of 50, and Marion in November 1917 aged 75.

12

William Horner.

William Horner was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1832.

At the age of 27 with his wife Mary (née Proctor) and two young

children they sailed to Lyttelton on the „Clontarf‟ arriving on the

5th January 1859. The family first settled in Lyttelton and at

some stage William worked for the Tramways as a blacksmith

and he helped to lay the Papanui to Sumner tramway.

William bought the 50 acre „Springlands‟ property in 1871

for 2600 pounds. When the first St. Paul‟s Church and Sunday

School were being replaced, William bought the old buildings,

had them shifted across the road, and they became part of his

blacksmith‟s shop. William expanded his business to include a

steam chaff works, corn stores, coal and firewood depot and a

general store. “Springlands” was to be their home for about

5 years before retiring to 6 Horner Street.

From time to time William owned and subdivided several

blocks of land in the Papanui area.

William was a keen sportsman, playing cricket to veterans

level. He loved fishing and shooting, and he reared birds.

William and Mary had had thirteen children, five of them

dying at a very early age. William died at the age of 72 in

August 1905 and was buried in the cemetery of St. Paul‟s

Church. Mary was still living in Papanui when she died in June

1919 at the age of 84. She was laid to rest with William and

several of their children.

13

Henry Tisch.

Henry Tisch was 4 years old when he arrived in

Lyttelton on the „Midlothian‟ in October 1851 with his

parents, Philipp and Christiana Tisch.

Later Henry worked for his father on the farm at

Tisch‟s Corner (corner of Johns Rd. and Main North

Rd.) and then went to the West Coast with his brother to

seek a fortune in gold. (Not a successful venture.)

On returning to Christchurch he bought land from

his father at Chaney‟s Corner and started farming. He

later speculated in buying and selling properties.

Henry had married Mary Schmitt (or Schmidt) in

the 1860s and they had 10 children.

By 1898 they were living at „Springlands‟ which

by then was down to 10 acres of land. During the 1890s

Henry made two extensive overseas trips including to

his birthplace, Bohingheim, Prussia.

Henry died in July 1903, aged 56, and Mary, aged

82, in July 1926. They are buried at St. Paul‟s

Cemetery.

14

Rev. Henry Adamson.

Rev. Henry Adamson was at „Springlands‟ between 1903

and 1921.

He was born in Ireland and came to New Zealand about

1866. The Renwick church near Blenheim was his first post

before going to the Lincoln and Prebbleton area in 1887.

In 1890 at the age of 31 he married Marianne Burke at

Halswell. He spent time at Sydenham (1892) and Port Chalmers

(1893) before returning to Christchurch.

Henry died in August 1925 at the age of 67 and is buried at

the Sydenham Cemetery. At this time he was living at

33 Hackthorne Road, Cashmere, Christchurch.

The „Elms Hotel‟ and „Tall Trees Motel‟ are now on the old homestead property, Papanui Road.

15

“THE SUMMER HOUSE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LAKE, ACCESSED BY BOAT AND BRIDGE.”

and see page 5.

16

Compiled by Christine Grant, and edited by Warren Hudson December, 2008

a PAPANUI HERITAGE GROUP Publication

ISSN 1173-6909 08 (print)

ISSN 2253-4830-08 (online)