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The first Dunsandel subdivisions
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TitleThe first Dunsandel subdivisions
DescriptionRather than repeat what has already been well covered in the 2 readily available books on Dunsandel (see illustration), it is proposed to emphasise topics where information has only become readily accessible since the introduction of Papers Past, and the still unrecorded memories of some long-time residents of Dunsandel.
There were two township subdivisions early in Dunsandel’s history.
The triangle west of the railway line.
The Hon Robert Daly sold part of RS7629 to William Lawrence (the hotel builder) in April 1870 for £75 and in June 1873 Lawrence sold the lower 1.5 acres to the Queen for the railway for £150.
A few days after the Lyttleton Times mentioned that Lawrence was going to subdivide the rest of his property into residential sections, E Mitchell & Co were advertising 36 quarter-acre sections for sale at the Dunsandel Hotel immediately on the arrival of the mid-day train from Christchurch on April 10, 1873. By the end of May, Lawrence had commissioned Mitchell & Co to sell the remaining sections by public auction on June 3rd.
The sections along the new railway land (now SH1) sold quickly (all to Philip Martin, a Hotel Keeper, except no 16 which sold to a Christchurch gentleman, William Montgomery) for a total of £106.
The bulk of the rest of the triangle sold for £25-15s. Sections 3-6 & 13-15 to a local farmer, Edward Rippingale, and sections 11 & 12 to George McBean, the Dunsandel Hotel Keeper. McBean donated one of his sections to build the first hall/library. Since the section cost him £2, the gift may not have been all that generous. Thus, before his death, Lawrence had made a profit of £206-15s.
The sections S-W of Browns Road sold in 1881, after Lawrence’s death, to two local farmers, John Dilloway from Gift Farm (38-42) and Henry Washbourne the younger (8,9, 34-36) and in 1883 to Peter Stainger from Selwyn Town (7, 31-33).
The sale of the first stage sections of Selwyn Town (where SH1 crosses the Selwyn River) was markedly different, as a large percentage of the buyers bought one section each.
A mystery advertisement for the sale on the 5th July 1873 of sections 1, 2, 2a, 24, 25, 26 and10, “at the risk of Mr James Barker, the former purchaser”, appeared. Barker may have overextended himself by buying the sections from Martin although there is no sign of this transaction in the Deeds Book and nobody had bought section 10.
A second mystery results when a scale diagram of the sections is transferred onto a Google map suggesting that Kanes Road is not in the correct place.
East of the railway line
According to Mackie, a second subdivision occurred east of the railway line in RS7792 in 1872-73 when Daly’s agent sold sections to Lawrence (for his hotel), Struthers and Henry (for their shop, later sold to Sherrard, then Owers), Chamberlain, Hart, and Kilner.
Mike Noonan
Dunsandel Historic SocietyDate31 March 2022SourceThe Ellesmere EchoLocationDunsandel
DescriptionRather than repeat what has already been well covered in the 2 readily available books on Dunsandel (see illustration), it is proposed to emphasise topics where information has only become readily accessible since the introduction of Papers Past, and the still unrecorded memories of some long-time residents of Dunsandel.There were two township subdivisions early in Dunsandel’s history.
The triangle west of the railway line.
The Hon Robert Daly sold part of RS7629 to William Lawrence (the hotel builder) in April 1870 for £75 and in June 1873 Lawrence sold the lower 1.5 acres to the Queen for the railway for £150.
A few days after the Lyttleton Times mentioned that Lawrence was going to subdivide the rest of his property into residential sections, E Mitchell & Co were advertising 36 quarter-acre sections for sale at the Dunsandel Hotel immediately on the arrival of the mid-day train from Christchurch on April 10, 1873. By the end of May, Lawrence had commissioned Mitchell & Co to sell the remaining sections by public auction on June 3rd.
The sections along the new railway land (now SH1) sold quickly (all to Philip Martin, a Hotel Keeper, except no 16 which sold to a Christchurch gentleman, William Montgomery) for a total of £106.
The bulk of the rest of the triangle sold for £25-15s. Sections 3-6 & 13-15 to a local farmer, Edward Rippingale, and sections 11 & 12 to George McBean, the Dunsandel Hotel Keeper. McBean donated one of his sections to build the first hall/library. Since the section cost him £2, the gift may not have been all that generous. Thus, before his death, Lawrence had made a profit of £206-15s.
The sections S-W of Browns Road sold in 1881, after Lawrence’s death, to two local farmers, John Dilloway from Gift Farm (38-42) and Henry Washbourne the younger (8,9, 34-36) and in 1883 to Peter Stainger from Selwyn Town (7, 31-33).
The sale of the first stage sections of Selwyn Town (where SH1 crosses the Selwyn River) was markedly different, as a large percentage of the buyers bought one section each.
A mystery advertisement for the sale on the 5th July 1873 of sections 1, 2, 2a, 24, 25, 26 and10, “at the risk of Mr James Barker, the former purchaser”, appeared. Barker may have overextended himself by buying the sections from Martin although there is no sign of this transaction in the Deeds Book and nobody had bought section 10.
A second mystery results when a scale diagram of the sections is transferred onto a Google map suggesting that Kanes Road is not in the correct place.
East of the railway line
According to Mackie, a second subdivision occurred east of the railway line in RS7792 in 1872-73 when Daly’s agent sold sections to Lawrence (for his hotel), Struthers and Henry (for their shop, later sold to Sherrard, then Owers), Chamberlain, Hart, and Kilner.
Mike Noonan
Dunsandel Historic Society
Date31 March 2022SourceThe Ellesmere EchoLocationDunsandelConnections
CollectionHistory of DunsandelOrganisationDunsandel Historic Society
OrganisationDunsandel Historic SocietyAttribution
Researched ByMike NoonanWritten ByMike Noonan
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The first Dunsandel subdivisions (31 March 2022). Selwyn Stories, accessed 15/06/2026, https://selwynstories.selwynlibraries.co.nz/nodes/view/5225