Stony Creek Hut

826 Stony River Road, TEKAPO

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This historic place was registered under the Historic Places Act 1993. The following text is from the original Proposal for Classification report considered by the NZHPT Board at the time of registration. [Square brackets indicate where later updated] DESCRIPTION: In the nineteenth century, sheep farming for the production of wool was of primary importance to the New Zealand economy. The South Island, and in particular Marlborough, Canterbury and Otago, was attractive for the rearing of sheep due to large tracts of open tussock where as the North Island was more heavily bush covered. Agricultural development in the North Island was further slowed by land wars and the related strife. As stock numbers increased in the 1860s, a boundary keeping system was adopted in South Canterbury. Boundary keepers lived in simple huts such as Stony Creek Hut, patrolling the property boundaries daily and driving the sheep back into their own property. [Frederick and Thomas Teschemaker (brothers) were the first owners of Haldon Station - their application for the Run is dated November 1857. Journals outline how the brothers built Stony Creek Hut in late April 1862 for their first boundary keeper employed at the Station, Edmund Norman, who had been engaged on 13 February 1862 for £55 per annum.] Edmund Norman (1820-75), surveyor and well-known artist, lived at Stony Creek Hut [as its first boundary keeper from when it was built in] 1862 until January 1864. [He had] cats and dogs for company. It was while he was in this isolated spot that he painted many of his best known early South Canterbury water colours, some of which were later exhibited at English art galleries. He is now recognised as one of South Canterbury's most distinguished artists. He also worked as a surveyor for the New Zealand Company on the drafting of maps of Wellington, the Wairarapa and later Lyttelton. James Innes, grandfather of the present owner Peter Innes, also lived in the hut and worked as a boundary keeper. In 1911 James Innes acquired the lease of the Stony Creek run. With the advent of cheap wire fencing in the 1870s and with the subdivision of the larger runs, there was no longer the need for boundary keepers.

Stony Creek Hut. September 2006 | Scott Bowie | Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai
September 2006 | Scott Bowie | Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai
Interior. September 2006 | Scott Bowie | Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai

Location

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List Entry Information

Overview

Detailed List Entry

Status

Listed

List Entry Status

Historic Place Category 1

Access

Private/No Public Access

List Number

7181

Date Entered

6th June 1994

Date of Effect

6th June 1994

City/District Council

Waimate District

Region

Canterbury Region

Extent of List Entry

Extent includes part of the land described as Run 317 (RT CB6B/334), Canterbury Land District and the building described as Stony Creek Hut thereon. Refer to Extent map tabled at the Rārangi Kōrero Committee on 26 March 2020.

Legal description

Run 317 (RT CB6B/334), Canterbury Land District

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