John Jauncey Buchanan and his Valuable Allotment
Before arrival in Christchurch, the family of Scotsman John Jauncey Buchanan purchased land on what would become the centre of Christchurch. It was a ‘valuable allotment, known as the ‘Triangle’ which would be used for ‘his future sustenance’. Buchanan had wanted to go to America or join the settlement in Otago, but circumstances prevented either option.
Belonging to a distinguished naval lineage, Buchanan was the fourth son of a Naval Lieutenant, the grandson of a Rear Admiral, and the great-grandson of Admiral Sir John Knight, who held the title of Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath. Despite his family’s migration to Australia and settlement in Victoria before 1849, the teenage Buchanan found himself left behind in Scotland. [1]
In 1849, John left Scotland for England, where he joined the Canterbury Pilgrims preparing to embark on a journey to the New World. On the 30th of July the following year, he and his fellow immigrants crowded into St Paul’s Cathedral to listen to the farewell sermon for the pilgrims delivered by the Archbishop of Canterbury. He also attended the farewell breakfast for the colonists at Blackwall.
Although John initially couldn’t secure passage on the first four ships, he eventually set sail on the fifth vessel, the Castle Eden, which departed from Plymouth Sound on the 8th of October 1850. The new church bell for St Michael’s and All Angels’ Church also travelled on board. After spending Christmas at sea, the Castle Eden arrived in Port Cooper on 7th February 1851, two months after the Cressy.
“Most of the land known as the Triangle belonged to a dairy farmer residing at Addington, to whom William Wilson had given credit for goods totalling £60. Wilson, after vainly endeavouring to obtain payment of his account, suggested that he take over this triangular section and pay his client £60 in full settlement of accounts. The suggestion appealed to the dairyman and thus Wilson became the owner of one of the most valuable, pieces of property to be found in New Zealand today for £120, less his profit on the £60 worth of goods he had sold to his erstwhile customer!” [2]
Buchanan and his fellow immigrants faced considerable challenges in locating the site for the new city amidst the fern and scrub. The river was scarcely visible, “for the reeds that lined it and grew in the shallows.” Although many characterised Christchurch as a vast swamp, Buchanan held a different perspective. In his recollection in 1900, he clarified, “There was swampy land, indeed, but it was not in the center of the town, but towards the Lincoln Road.”
“It was a scorching hot day, and I never forget the first glimpse I had from the summit. It was a vast extent of bare, tree-less, yellow plain, with a few cabbage trees dotted about here and there, and a huge swamp, which looked like an island of vegetation of raupo flax and toi-toi in a sea of rusty fern, and yellow, brown, lank tussock grass, through which the rivers cut a silvery way in the fierce glare of sunlight.” said Buchanan on a trip to Christchurch to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the arrival of the Canterbury Pilgrims. [3]
Buchanan’s town section comprised 3/4 of an acre in the area later known as the ‘Triangle.’ Across this section ran a deep gully, which would eventually be filled to allow it to be built on. [4] He leased the section to Mr. J. E. Fitzgerald, the Immigration Agent from the Charlotte Jane, for £5 per year. Fitzgerald erected a sod fence and grazed a cow on the property.
Additionally, Buchanan owned suburban land in Selwyn Street, encompassing several acres that would eventually become the Addington Cemetery. However, he held little optimism for his prospects in the emerging Province. Before long, he sold his holdings and set off for the Australian “el Dorado” that beckoned. After making several journeys between the two colonies and testing his luck on the West Coast of the South Island, he eventually settled in Hawke’s Bay.
A Precocious Wastrel
During the 1860s, Dugald Ferguson was employed by Buchanan, who, at that time, worked as a farmer and held notable social connections. Buchanan, described by Ferguson as a ‘precocious wastrel,’ had been sent to New Zealand alone at the age of fourteen. [5]
Ferguson reported that Buchanan struggled with a significant drinking problem, and following an episode of heavy drinking, he sold his town section to ‘Cabbage Wilson’ for £60. Upon learning of the sale, Buchanan’s family, who were then likely in Victoria, Australia, attempted through legal action to reclaim the property, arguing that he was underage at the time of the sale. Unfortunately, their claim was unsuccessful.
By 1864, the Triangle was one compact mass of houses occupying about three-quarters of an acre. ‘Cabbage’ Wilson leased it to tenants for 21 years, and it was the most thickly populated part of the town.
With 32 tenements, two stables and a bakehouse, the Triangle was part of the ‘populous and ill-drained portion’ of the city. An accumulation of offensive matter injurious to the health of the inhabitants of the city existed on the road, and the City Council gave notice to Wilson in 1863 to remove the noxious materials from his premises.
The porous nature of the soil of Christchurch, combined with the cesspools in the thickly populated parts of the city, had the effect of polluting the surrounding earth and creating toxic exhalations extremely detrimental to the health of the inhabitants.
So bad was it, that in 1865, the Lyttelton Times likened the Triangle’s ramshackle filth to the back streets of New York. Their suggested solution was “to call for a special earthquake to swallow this rotting sore and hurry it from our sight.”
- Buchanan’s father was Naval Lieutenant Alexander Buchanan. His grandfather was Rear Admiral of the Blue, Alexander Shippard. One of John Buchanan’s older brothers, George William Henry Buchanan, born 11 August 1829 in Duddingston, Scotland, died at just age 11, in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. Their father also died there in 1849.
Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXX, Issue 13006, 14 March 1913, Page 2. - The Early Days Of Canterbury. Chapter 5. Early Business Thoroughfares. Compiled by A. Selwyn Bruce. Published 1932. https://sites.google.com/site/marapito/theearlydaysofcanterbury01
- AN EARLY COLONIST. Star, Issue 6984, 27 December 1900, Page 1.
- BACK FOR THE JUBILEE. Star, Issue 69691, 6 December 1900, Page 1.
- THE EARLY DAYS – WESTLAND RE-VISITED. West Coast Times, 9 December 1909, Page 1 and BACK FOR THE JUBILEE. Star, Issue 69691, 6 December 1900, Page 1.
Lost Christchurch 