Waituna

Waituna is a small settlement in the Waimate District, Canterbury, New Zealand.

The Cyclopedia of New Zealand reported in 1903 as follows:

"Waituna is a fine farming district in the hilly country at the back of Waimate and the Hook districts. It is in the Deep Creek riding of the Waimate county, and the population in 1901 was set down at ninety. Sheepfarming, agriculture and fruit growing are the main industries of the district. There is a public school, in which divine service is held periodically. The district is reached easily by various roads from Waimate and the Hook.

"Waituna Creek School, near Waimate. This school is under the control of the South Canterbury Board of Education. It was erected in 1881. The average attendance is about sixty.

"Mr. John Menzies, Headmaster of the Waituna Creek School, is a son of the late Rev. John Menzies, who was Congregational minister at Lawrence. He was born in 1850, and came to New Zealand in 1868 in the ship “Schleswig Bride,” landing at Port Chalmers. After a year in Dunedin Mr. Menzies' family went to Lawrence, and Mr. Menzies, junior, secured an appointment in the Lawrence grammar school, where he remained six yeas, and was then appointed second master of the Dunedin High Street school. Two years later he entered the service of the Bank of New Zealand in Dunedin, where he remained for over four years. He then resumed teaching in the goldfield districts of Central Otago, and was subsequently appointed master of the Hook school, and later at Pleasant Valley. In 1891 he was appointed to his present position. Mr. Menzies was choirmaster at Knox Church, Waimate, for four years, and retired from the position owing to the partial loss of his voice. On his retirement he was presented with some silver plate as a token of esteem and a memento of his services. Mr. Menzies is a member, and also organist, of the Waimate St. Augustine Lodge of Freemasons. He is also a member of the Waimate Caledonian Society.

"Meyer, Herman, Farmer, “Rosefield,” Waituna. Rosefield Farm is a fine property of nearly 700 acres of freehold land and 260 acres below Studholme, adjoining the Waihac river. Mr. Meyer was born in 1843, in Hanover, where he was educated and brought up to country life. Afterwards he became a carpenter, and followed that calling for a few years. On removing to England, he had a year's experience in a sugar factory, and in 1863, landed at Timaru from the ship “Lancashire Witch.” Mr. Meyer worked at his trade in Timaru for a short time, and subsequently at Waimate for some years. Having decided to commence farming, he bought seventy acres, the first portion of his fine property at Waituna. Mr. Meyer breeds sheep and cattle, and grows grain on his land. He has for some years served as a member of the Waituna school committee. After forty yeas in New Zealand, Mr. and Mrs Meyer took a trip to their native land, and America, and returned to New Zealand after an absence of seven months. In 1870 Mr. Meyer married a daughter of the late John Krisle, of Hanover, and has had five sons and four daughters. One son and one daughter are dead.

"Mr. John Cochrane, sometime of Waituna Mains, Waituna, was a son of the late Mr. John Cochrane, an old colonist of Waimate, and came came with his father in the ship “Himalaya,” in 1867, landing at Lyttelton. Mr. Cochrane, senior, went to Waimate, and took up a farm near the embryo township, and worked it for many years. He took an active part in local matters, and was one of the promoters of the Waimate Presbyterian church Sir. Cochrane, junior, worked with his father for a number of years in farming and contratcting. In 1878, in conjunction with his brother, he took up Waituna Mains. The partnership was afterwards dissolved, and the farm was thereafter carried on by Mr. John Cochrane. The general average of crops was — wheat, twenty-five bushels; oats, fifty to sixty bushels per acre. Like his father, Mr. Cochrane took a prominent part in local affairs, and was chairman of the Waituna school committee, and treasurer of the Waimate Caledonian Society. Mr. Cochrane was County Valuer for the Waimate County Council, and had occupied a similar position under the New Zealand Govern ment. Mr. Cochrane was killed by a loaded dray falling on his chest in May, 1902. "