1855: Kaiapoi gets its first lock-up
June 24, 2019
By AHNZ
June 1855, Kaiapoi gets its first lock-up. The North Canterbury settlement of Kaiapoi was the gateway to the north despite not being officially recognised as a town yet. But who needs government magic naming spells anyway? They knew what they were.
It was a bit like Back to The Future III except with more green. A river town with lots of swampy bits and flax patches. Instead of ruffian cowboys though there were plenty of drovers, shepherds, sawyers, and swaggers to misbehave in the frontier town. The settlers sold these men alcohol which led to unruly, drunken, behaviour warranting Kaiapoi’s first policeman to keep the peace.
By the following winter (June 1855) Constable Revell and his deputy have a lock-up jail to secure the bad men. They’ve already had their first court case too. One contributing factor toward the uncivil behaviour seems to be that the sawyers were running out of trees and, so, work. Prior to the lock-up one customary restraint in New Zealand was to shackle prisoners to heavy logs. However, on a frosty winter’s night in Kaiapoi “the logs” must have been unworkable and deadly.
The legendary comment of the curious Maoris observing was..
“White man big fool, build chokey to put *himself* in!”
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Ref. p27, Beyond the Waimakariri; Don Hawkins (1957)
Image ref. historic lock-up in Oxford today
Image ref. West Canterbury Logs Lockup at Lyell; Ref. Maye Dunn, West Coast South Island Facebook group
Image ref. Kaiapoi in 1859
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