1843: Ovis Aries Canterbury

June 29, 2021

By AHNZ

Today in history, 17 June, 1843, the first sheep ever in Canterbury arrived from New South Wales. Canterbury and sheep turned out be a winning combination.

“Pioneering Scottish brothers, operating as ‘W & J Deans’, landed 33 Merino sheep – as well as 41 heifers, 18 bullocks, 1 bull, 2 sows & 3 Clydesdales – at Rapaki,…These were the first sheep and horses to ever step ashore at Port Cooper (Canterbury).” – Ref. DISCO

When Canterbury was colonised in 1850 the idea was to build a province out of small mixed farms. On paper, a good idea. Upon arrival it turned out that pasturalism-by-sheep was the winning combo and administrator John Godley had to break some rules and think on his feet.

Hardly any of our early squatters, apart from the Australians who skipped over to Canterbury with their flocks to flee drought, knew how to farm sheep. I was surprised and relieved to read this in Acland because it brought the old settlers down to earth for me for the first time.

“A few were natural sheep men who soon learnt their business, but the only thing that saved any of the others was that competent Scotch managers and shepherds were more plentiful in the old days than they have ever been since.” – Early Canterbury Runs, Acland (1946)

Instead of thinking of them as green-thumbed demigod know-it-alls it became possible to realise they were just men who had learning curves and buggered things up just like the rest of us.

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Ref. Discover The Delights Of Peeling Back History (2019)

Image ref. Merino sheep, Pinterest

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