1866: Engelbrecht’s Ending

April 30, 2025

By AHNZ

With regret we read that the old Engelbrecht farm at Bennetts (Oxford) is being surrendered after being in the family since about 1866. This time it’s voluntary. The first farm was taken by the flooding Waimakariri. Engelbrecht was ruined and had to start over. Now his second property, Island Farm, previously known as Pine Tree Farm, now on the market. Ref. The Cyclopedia of New Zealand (1903,) NZETC

“It is with a great deal of reluctance that this property is offered to the market having been in the same family for an estimated 140 years, but now is the chance for a new owner to add to the storied history and make their mark on this property as it evolves in the future.” Ref. Bayleys (2025)

Heinrich “Henry” Engelbrecht was born in Niedermeiser Village, Hesse Province, Germany in 1840 and came to Canterbury Province in 1857. Interesting to note that the 12th Mayor of Christchurch, George Ruddenklau, was born in the same village and that his mother’s maiden name was also Engelbrecht. Both men sailed for Lyttleton together on the same ship, the Bosworth. It’s a reminder that Germans played a strong part in building New Zealand despite being turned upon and erased in the wake of the two World Wars. Ref. Wiki

After 4 years in Canterbury, aged 21, Henry married the daughter of one of his fellow pioneer settler neighbours. Englishman Lancelot Giles, like Henry, farmed Kaiapoi Island (Clarkville) with a handful of others but being older had an established family. Elizabeth Giles married Engelbrecht in 1861 but no sooner had their first children been born but those terrible Waimakariri floods came tearing down from the Southern Alps to destroy Kaiapoi Island and its settlers.

The Engelbrechts were first in line for the brunt of it. “The settlers planned to take their cutting from Engelbrecht’s old farm — Engelbrecht had moved, ruined, to Oxford in 1866…” The remaining Kaiapoi Island settlers were told by the Canterbury Provincial boffins, Edward Dobson for example, that nothing could be done for them. Although, just as in our own times, these government consultants did generate expenses to the taxpayer by mucking about with equipment and generating plans and contingencies. Rather than help the Kaiapoi Islanders in their predicament between two flood-prone branches of the Waimak’ the consultants offered to trigger the flood least it put Christchurch in danger. It was pretty clear where their allegiances were! Ref. Hawkins (1951)

Henry’s family did not remain with the Kaiapoi Islanders. The remains of his old farm became ground zero for these Anarchists abandoned by their government to try to hold back the floods by a man-made ‘cuts’ according to the plans Dobson had left behind. This high-stakes amatuer hydraulic engineering actually worked and the Island was saved. No thanks to The State. Mrs Engelbrecht would have been thrilled for her old family and community. Henry and Elizabeth now lived at Bennetts Junction. Also known as Bennetts, or the View Hill bit of Oxford. It may be that they already owned a bush block here while farming at Kaiapoi Island. I know the Giles family did. Not to live there but because Oxford was their local source of native timber. Perhaps this is why Engelbrecht’s Island Farm was earlier named Pine Tree Farm for the radiata pine.

This is the farm that is now being sold. There are details in the Otago Daily Times but as usual the mainstream media is sketchy on history facts. This, even though the article has gone out to multiple print media! Saying that Henry Engelbrecht (1840-1930, btw) founded the farm in “1961” (a typo) thus “ending its 140-year family connection” (that would make it est. 1885.) They also say “…the 1840s times were difficult for rural labourers in the north of Germany. They were entirely at the mercy of the landowning aristocracy.” Goodness knows where that came from. Who says Henry was a labourer? He clearly had connections, capital, flash suits, and excellent prospects from a young age to procure 2 farms and start a family. Ref. Family prepares to sever connection with the land, ODT (23/4/2025)

I think the ODT got the genealogy wrong too in saying the Thomas couple who most recently own the farm have a grandfather in Henry. Mrs Thomas’ father Percy is probably the actual grandson via Fred Engelbrecht. The farm seems to have gone from Henry to his daughter and husband and next to Fred and then on down. Although this was only 4th generation it’s because that clan put in some serious miles per lifetime. Mrs Thomas (nee Engelbrecht) has died and husband Owen Thomas is ready to sell the old family farm rather than keep it in the family name.

Henry, in his 70s, was probably facing some bigotry and hate by the ANZAC mainstream for his accent and his surname during the late 1910s. His old shipmate George Ruddenklau, had founded the German Benefit Association (est. 1871) and a Lutheran Church in Christchurch¹. “The German Church was confiscated in 1918 by the New Zealand Government and the church bells first ceremoniously smashed and then melted down in the aftermath of World War I when there were strong anti-German feelings in New Zealand.” Ref. Wiki

Good for Henry for living long enough to get to the other side of New Zealand at its fervent worst. Or, for Mayor Ruddenklau for dying early enough to have missed it. Farmer Engelbrecht helped create Oxford, serving on the Oxford Road Board and the school committee, and (I think) running the post office. So, it is to be regretted that his family giving up the farm. It’s the second time in 160 years they’ve done that but this time by choice and forever.

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1 Henry seems to have converted to Anglican though since he was buried in that cemetery in Kaiapoi

Image ref. Family photos, enhanced 2025. AHNZ Archive

Ref. Beyond the Waimakariri, Don Hawkins (1957)

Ref. Henry’s obit, Find a Grave

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