Akaroa, Banks Peninsula, Canterbury, New Zealand

Akaroa is the oldest European town in Canterbury. It was founded in 1840 by some would-be French colonists who never actually got to colonize it because the British pre-empted them but who nevertheless managed to stamp an unusual Frenchness upon the town. In more recent years the locals not only realized what a draw card its origins were, they actively promoted it by squeezing every last drop out of its Gallic origins. At least half of the streets have French names such as Rue Jolie and Rue Lavaud (earlier known as Jolie and Lavaud Streets) and the tricouleur accompanies the New Zealand ensign and the union flag on festive occasions.

Akaroa township started life as Port Louis-Philipe but soon took the Maori name of its South Pacific inlet (Akaroa means long harbour) which, like its neighbouring Lyttleton Harbour, is a flooded extinct volcano.

By 1844 its population comprised 60 French, 20 German, 40 British and 97 ‘aborigines’. I guess the ‘aborigines’ were in the area long before the Europeans arrived and, indeed, there is a tiny Maori ‘kainga’ (village) to the south of the town to this day.

Akaroa’s population swells each summer with tourists, and grows, too, with new residents seduced by its natural magnificence. As gems go, Akaroa is lustrous in the extreme and well worth the long winding journey over the volcanic hills of Banks Peninsula from its nearest big city, Christchurch.


© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
.

Akaroa: Langlois-Etevenaux House

Lured by the treasures of tourism Akaroa becomes Frencher by the day, and it is with relish that the richly Gallic syllables of ‘Langlois-Etevenaux’ are rolled out in the town.

Quite right, too; Akaroa has a unique place in the history of New Zealand and whether or not it is for commercial reasons its French colonial origins should never be forgotten.

Jean Langlois was skipper of the whaler Cachalot from Normandy who, having visited Akaroa Harbour, felt that it would be a good base from which France might colonize the South Island of New Zealand. He negotiated a doubtful deed of purchase with some Ngai Tahu chiefs in Port Cooper and then sailed for France where his enthusiasm infectiously encouraged formation of the colonizing Nanto-Bordelaise Company, and despatch of sixty-three migrants to Akaroa in 1840.

The rest is history: there was to be no French colony; intention was scotched by the pre-emptive establishment of British sovereignty at Waitangi. Notwithstanding, the immigrants came, and stayed. Jean Langlois’s brother, Aimable was among them. He opened the town store – the French Magasin – and he built the dolls house cottage on the corner of Rue Lavaud and Rue Balguerie that is now part of the Akaroa Museum, administered by the Department of Conservation.

It is said to date between 1841 and 1845 and could compete with Deans’s Cottage as the oldest house in Canterbury. There is speculation that it may have been partially pre-fabricated in France, and my instincts – having seen nothing else quite like it – support the probability that it was at least French-designed for it is wonderfully well proportioned, and its fine, inward opening, casement windows with their flanking shutters have an old world elegance.

By 1845 Langlois had left New Zealand for Honolulu. He died about 1857 near San Francisco and the following year his brother, Jean, sold the house to Jean Pierre Etevenaux, one of the original settlers from France. He, his wife Jeanne Françoise and family owned it from 1858 to 1906. Thus Langlois-Etevenaux’ House.

© DON DONOVAN

 donovan@ihug.co.nz
.