CPlay Resource Race To The Rescue - Mouse Wheel - 230913 - Story Maker.pdf
The Ben Venue (left) and City of Perth (right) ships in Caroline Bay. The Ben Venue was wrecked at Caroline Bay in May 1882. The city of Perth collided with the wreckage and also ran aground but was eventually refloated carrying over 5000 sacks of milling wheat from newly broken in farms of the area. Photographer J Dickie Courtesy South Canterbury Museum 2014/056.01
Section from a photograph taken by the Burton Brothers circa 1882; of the "Ben Venue" stranded. In the distance you can see the Caroline Bay coastline before the sand started to accumulate. Te Papa (C.025205)
Timaru Volunteer Rocket Brigade. Photographer William Ferrier c1882. South Canterbury Museum 0844
Siblings Ruben Cloake and Annelies Bray have a race on the 50m tandem flying fox. Photo: Geoff Cloake
How the Illustrated London News saw rowing lifeboats in action. heartheboatsing.com/for-those-in-peril-on-the-sea/
Alice Solace, Rebecca Jackson, Sharleyne Diamond and and friends enjoy the new Playground Center Cyclops swing - Photo Supplied
A lifeboat crew rowing to rescue shipwrecked sailors. published 1893-02-11 The New Zealand Graphic and Ladies Journal, 11 February 1893, p.121 - New Zealand Graphic; Wright, Henry Charles Seppings, 1849-1937 - Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections NZG-18930211-0121-01
The Ben Venue (left) and City of Perth (right) ships in Caroline Bay. The Ben Venue was wrecked at Caroline Bay in May 1882. The city of Perth collided with the wreckage and also ran aground but was eventually refloated carrying over 5000 sacks of milling wheat from newly broken in farms of the area. Photographer J Dickie Courtesy South Canterbury Museum 2014/056.01
Ship deck can be accessed by a ramp on a mound, so everyone can have fun steering the ship, ringing the bell and using the talker to give orders to the ship crew. Photo: Roselyn Fauth
The large painting (about four feet in length) of the wreck of 'City of Perth' and 'Ben Venue' at Timaru hung for many years in the Farmers tearooms and now the painting is at the Port Company Offices, Timaru at Marine Parade. The plate below the painting read : The Wreck of the Ben Venue and City of Perth 14 th May 1882. Presented to The Port of Timaru Ltd. By Arthur Bradley. Last surviving son of Issac Bradley a member of the rescue crafts crew. Located at Prime Port - Photo by Roselyn Fauth.
The South Canterbury Museum has an exhibit that includes the Benvenue Bell and medals, the rocket brigade lifesaving launch and the canon that summoned the rocket brigade. Photograpy courtesy of Roselyn Fauth.
Race to the rescue-themed mouse wheel. On one side is a map showing the shipwreck locations, on the other is a game that helps you create your own sea rescue story - which crew will you choose? The lifeboat or the rocket brigade? - Research and design by Roselyn Fauth - Photo Geoff Cloake
History of the Alexandra - one of the oldest and best examples of a lifeboat of its type in the world. Alexandra, named after Queen Alexandra the wife of King Edward VII.
Since its retirement in 1882 the lifeboat has been a memorial to those who manned it and those it rescued. Named after the wife of King Edward VII, Alexandra of Denmark, the Timaru lifeboat is one of the oldest vessels of its type in the world.
Timaru's lifeboat was imported from England by the Canterbury Provincial Council in 1864. It was built by the Messrs, Forrest, of Limehouse, under the direction of Mr. John Marshman, [Marshall] the intelligent emigration agent for the province of Canterbury in this country. In 24th May 1869 the boat was used and crew member Duncan Cameron drowned after the Alexandra capsized. Mr Mills, the Harbour Master, was ill at the time, having been injured by a rocket during a rocket brigade rescue. After the event the boat was not used. Her first active use for thirteen years was on "Black Sunday" 14 May 1882, when the City of Perth and the Benvenue were wrecked on Benvenue Cliffs. During the rescue attempts the Alexandra capsized four times and ten lives were lost. A memorial to the heroic rescue attempts was erected in Perth Street in 1932 on the 50th anniversary of the "Black Sunday", at a ceremony attended by surviving rescuers, the Alexandra was placed on Caroline Bay. In 1997 the vessel was moved to the Landing Service Building and full restored. It is now out of public sight in storage.
1860s: Timaru needed a boat to navigate heavy surf conditions.
1862: Canterbury Provincial Secretary ordered a lifeboat from London.
1863: The 35-foot 6-inch long boat, Alexandra, named after Queen Alexandra, was crafted by the National Life-boat Institution in the UK.
1863: The lifeboat arrived in New Zealand aboard the "Huntress" ship.
1869: First used; capsized, resulting in the drowning of crew member Duncan Cameron. Taken out of service for 13 years.
1877: Due to financial constraints, Harbourmaster Captain Alexander Mills dismissed the lifeboat crew, but the Harbor Board formed a volunteer rocket brigade.
1882: "Black Sunday" disaster; the Alexandra was pulled out of storage and capsized four times during rescue attempts, resulting in the loss of 10 lives and saving 43 people.
1932: Memorial erected in Perth Street on the 50th anniversary of "Black Sunday".
1997: The Alexandra was restored and displayed at the Timaru Information Centre until 2010.
Currently stored at Mainland Depot on King Street, not on public display.
Images are from the collections at Te Papa and Illustrated Australian News - Melbourne Vic -1876-1889 Saturday 10 June 1882
The large painting (about four feet in length) of the wreck of 'City of Perth' and 'Ben Venue' at Timaru hung for many years in the Farmers tearooms and now the painting is at the Port Company Offices, Timaru located along Marine Parade which is located near the distal end of the Port Loop Road a route to Caroline Bay and the harbour. The plate below the painting reads "Wreck of the Ben Venue and City of Perth on 14 May 1882, Presented to: The Port of Timaru Ltd. by Arthur Bradley. Last surviving son of Issac Bradley, A member of the rescue craft's crew." Photo by Roselyn Fauth with permission of PrimePort Timaru.
Changing South: Timaru’s Caroline Bay – remembering a stormy history
Timaru’s Caroline Bay used to be known as the Riviera of the South. A wide, sandy beach, it was where Cantabrians would flock (by train) to swim, sunbathe and attend carnivals and concerts. Though it doesn’t quite draw the crowds of ‘Riviera’ times these days, it’s still a beautiful bay, enjoyed by Timaru locals.
But it wasn’t always a place of peace, nor of fine golden sand. Rather, Caroline Bay was a place of heaving southerly swells and many a shipwreck. According to Timaru researcher Roselyn Fauth, the story is a good one – and she’s helping plan a new playground to pay tribute to it.
“The natural basin of the area provided some shelter for ships,” says Roselyn referring back to the 1800s. “So they could come here, and they could import and export.”
When a big southerly swell roared to life, though, Caroline Bay became a graveyard for ships.
“I think over about 16 years we saw 28 shipwrecks here,” says Roselyn, a Timaru local and passionate historian. Mooring became a point of contention: to move the ships closer for more efficient handling of goods? Or to keep them further out, at a safer distance?
At the centre of all this, caught in the politics, was Captain Mills, who’d been harbour master for 16 years. He had a big job, especially when the sea rose up. Captain Mills bore the responsibility of the lives of all those aboard the ships, as well as the rescue Rocket Brigade and lifeboat crew.
The Rocket Brigade had their work cut out for them. They were the late-1800s version of lifeguards, except arguably (as the name suggests) with a more exciting job – one which involved rockets and “rescue pants”. As Keely Kroening, Museum Educator at South Canterbury Museum explains, when a ship was in trouble the signal gun would be heard all over town, and everyone would come running.
“Then they would send a rocket out, holding a rope over the ship, so that the seamen on the ship could grab the rope,” Keely explains. The seamen would tie off the rope to the mast and the brigade would then send out a pair of canvas shorts attached to a buoy. The seamen would hop inside the rescue shorts and be pulled back to shore, one by one.
In 1878, the people decided enough was enough, and work began on a southern breakwater to help protect the ships from the sea. Not everyone was behind the plan. The government’s marine engineer, John Blackett, wrote a report saying the port was a terrible idea, and that it would change the way sediment flowed up the coast.
He would prove to be right about the sediment: where Caroline Bay was once a rocky cliff, it is now a sandy bay. It also starved the lagoon, of which only about 10 percent remains today. But his opinion didn’t stand a chance against the hundreds of locals who turned up to parade and protest against him on the main street. “They hissed and carried this effigy of Blackett down to the breakwater, filled him with fireworks and then blew him up,” says Roselyn.
The breakwater went ahead, but because steamships took priority on the new moorings, many sailboats were still left to anchor too close to shore. Two years after the port construction, Caroline Bay witnessed its biggest shipwreck yet. It was May 14, 1882, and a huge swell had kicked up. The Ben Venue lost anchor, smashing into the rocks where a crowd from town had gathered.
The crew managed to escape to the safety of the City of Perth, but this lost anchor, too, and drifted down the bay before smashing into the wreck of the Ben Venue. Tragically, nine lost their lives, including Timaru’s beloved Captain Mills.
The story of Caroline Bay is a colourful and tragic one. Roselyn Fauth wants to see it be better celebrated, and that the bay be restored to its earlier glory as a place of play. To replace the tired playground that currently sits where so many once ventured for leisure, work is underway on a new playground inspired by Timaru’s stormy history.
Under the name of C-Play, the new playground features a lighthouse, a buried Ben Venue, a Rocket Brigade-themed flying fox and a big focus on inclusivity. Might this new playground put Caroline Bay back on the map as the Riviera of the South?
Accreditations: South Canterbury Museum, Aigantighe Art Gallery, Te Papa, National Library, State Library Victoria, National Library of Australia, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections
The lifeboat Alexandra, manned by Waterside Workers for an unidentified parade, pictured on Sarah Street in Timaru, circa 1912. The lifeboat is shown harnessed to a team of Clydesdale horses and appears to be heading for or leaving a parade. Amongsat the flags flown are the American and Australian flags and the British ensign (among others), as well as a banner for "Timaru Waterside Workers". South Canterbury Museum 1543
Procession of floats along the main street of Timaru watched by large crowd of people lining both sides. Quick glimpse of two aircraft flying overhead, perhaps also part of celebrations.
F H DREWITT PRESENTS JUBILEE PROCESSION TIMARU, NZ, 13 JULY, 1928.
Horsedrawn buggy. Driver and passengers wear period costumes. Men with bowler hats.
Procession parades through main street? Timaru. School students, brass band, cars, buses, Timaru's Lifeboat , horse drawn carriages and fire service. ALWAYS READY fire service truck with smoke billowing out from end of ladder on which fireman is sitting above the motor.
School boys on parade. Dominion Motors Ltd 1903 and 1928. Various other interesting floats pass by and the crowd closes in on street at end of parade.
Crowds lining both sides of street to view parade.
L2 planes in sky.
People walking down street.
Last picture frame.