Explored and settled over 800 years ago, Waitaha, Ngāti Māmoe and more recently Ngāi Tahu, established kāinga and mahinga kai throughout Whakaraupō (Lyttelton Harbour) supported by the rich resources, particularly kaimoana, found there. One of the many bays within Whakaraupō/Lyttelton Harbour is Te Waipapa, now called Diamond Harbour. Nestled between Pāua o Hinekotau (the headland between Church Bay and Diamond Harbour) and Te Upoko o Kurī (Stoddart Point), the sheltered nature of the bay made Te Waipapa an attractive bay to call in to when out on the harbour. The Ngāi Tahu ancestor Te Rakiwhakaputa claimed possession of Rāpaki for Ngāi Tahu in the seventeenth century by placing his waist-mat (Rāpaki) down on the beach. This gave the Rāpaki kainga its name, Te Rāpaki o Te Rakiwhakaputa. Ngāti Wheke retained some reserves during the 1849 Port Cooper land sale (although not Te Waipapa) however they continue their role as kaitiaki for Whakaraupō today. The first Pākehā permanent settlers to settle in the harbour arrived in the Christchurch area in 1843. Following the arrival of the Canterbury Association pioneers in December 1850, one of the earliest permanent Pākehā settlers in the area now known as Diamond Harbour was Mark Stoddart, originally from Edinburgh, Scotland. Stoddart arrived in New Zealand with 2,000 sheep in 1851 from Australia, where he had been a runholder since 1837. Mark Stoddart initially settled on the Terrace Station near the Rakaia River but did not stay long. In 1852 he purchased a 50-acre headland in the Diamond Harbour area, and over a ten year period he expanded his landholding through the gradual accumulation of freehold blocks. By 1862 Stoddart held titles to Rural Section (RS) 246 (50 acres), RS 1333 (173 acres), RS 498 (80 acres) and RS 2404 (58 acres). In February 1862, Stoddart married Anna Schjött and the couple moved into their new home which they referred to as ‘Point Cottage’, (now called Stoddart Cottage List no. 3088). Soon after the couple’s move into their new accommodation, the grounds around the cottage were developed, and by 1870 Stoddart’s orchard contained a considerable number and variety of fruit trees. Additionally, the family developed expansive vegetable gardens and paddocks for sheep farming. Oats and hay were cultivated to feed their stock. Stock water needed for his sheep came from dams constructed in April 1862 across a natural waterway in a gully some 200 metres below Stoddart Cottage. This provided a reliable water supply for Stoddart’s stock and horticultural requirements. These are the structures now known as the Stoddart Weirs. The upper weir was constructed using locally sourced volcanic rocks, and sufficiently wide to drive a horse and cart across the gully. The lower weir was constructed of earth and stone, and served as a dam only to create a water collection pond. Other structures that formed part of Stoddart’s operation included sheep yards that were constructed in January 1865, a wool shed along with a brick-lined sheep-dip with draining pens, and stables. In 1876 Stoddart sold most of his estate to Lyttelton merchant Harvey Hawkins, who acquired the balance, including Point Cottage in 1886. In 1880 Hawkins constructed Godley House, a two-storey square villa of brick construction but plastered to imitate stone. It was badly damaged by the 2011 Canterbury earthquake and its aftershocks and demolished in December 2011. Today only its foundations remain. Following the sale of their property to Hawkins in 1876, the Stoddart family briefly relocated back to Scotland but returned to New Zealand in 1880 when they moved into a property in Fendalton, Christchurch. Mark Stoddart died in 1885. In 1894 Hawkins was declared bankrupt. After the Diamond Harbour property failed to sell, it reverted to the Stoddart family in 1897, who leased or sold it off in portions. Anna Stoddart moved back to Diamond Harbour with her three daughters, one of whom, Margaret, was an accomplished painter and renowned watercolourist. Following Anna Stoddart’s death in June 1911, the family offered to sell its estate to both the Lyttelton Borough Council and the government. In February 1913 a special loan was raised enabling the Lyttelton Borough Council to purchase 356 acres of the Stoddart estate. An area of 40 acres, which included Stoddart Cottage and Godley House, was set aside as a public reserve. Shortly after its purchase, the Council levelled and landscaped much of the reserve, filling part of the gully and removing Stoddart’s orchard, hedges and bluegum trees. The Diamond Harbour Domain sports grounds were established on the land between the cottage and the weirs, and a cemetery formed on the land immediately west of the weirs. In 1945 the upper weir was intentionally breached by creating a gap around two metres wide to drain the pond that had become a nuisance with the change of use of the surrounding land. In the summer of 2002 to 2003 members of the Diamond Harbour and Districts Historical Association cleared the vegetation around the upper of the two weirs, which had become completely overgrown by that stage. A similar exercise took place in 2015. In November 2019 the weirs were again overgrown. Also in 2019, the Christchurch City Council created a number of walkways in the reserve, one of which leads to the top of the gully from where the weirs are able to be observed. Signage has also been added directing visitors to the location of the weirs.

Current Description The upper weir is of dry-stacked stone construction, using local volcanic rock. The weir is approximately 15 metres long, 1.5 metres wide and 1.5 – 2 metres high. It runs in a north-northwest to south-southeast direction and has a gap of about 2 metres near the northern end. The upper weir wall appears to have been bonded with clay rather than mortar. The lower weir consists of battered earth banks held together with embedded stones. These stones do not appear to have been stacked or coursed. It is approximately 12 metres long and 1.2 metres high. It runs parallel to the upper weir, some 65 metres down the natural gully. The weirs are of simple artisan construction. The upper weir, being constructed from stone, is unusual in New Zealand and is possibly reflective of Stoddart’s Scottish roots and the availability of stone in the locale. Both weirs are overgrown, the lower weir more so than the upper weir. As the upper weir and surrounding area has been cleared of vegetation twice in the first two decades of the twenty first century, it is mainly overgrown with long grass. The lower weir and surrounding area has not been cleared in recent memory, and is covered in dense vegetation consisting of trees, native bushes and scrubby weeds. Trees have established themselves on the weir, and roots growing through the weir have caused significant damage. Erosion and silt accumulation have also affected the lower weir, diminishing its visual appearance and making it more difficult to interpret. The upper part of the gully was cleared of vegetation at the time the upper weir was cleared, and subsequently planted with small natives. Comparative analysis There are several examples of weirs in Canterbury. A stone weir is present on the Avon River in Christchurch near the Antigua Boatsheds, which raises the water level while still enabling a flow over the top. Another Avon River weir is at Mona Vale and is a double weir of concrete construction which replaced an earlier timber weir. There are a number of weirs and dams on the New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero, but they are concrete structures from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. These are for water reservoirs for public water supplies, water mill operations or hydro-electricity generation. Examples include the Upper Karori Dam (List No. 7749), Lower Karori Dam (List No. 7750) and the Fernyhaugh Flour Mill Site (Former) (List No. 5188).