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Memories of Margery Swanson from the Town of Selwyn
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TitleMemories of Margery Swanson from the Town of Selwyn
DescriptionMargery was born on Armistice Day (11 November 1918) and so she was named Margery Jane Peace and although she never advertised her third name, her siblings used to tease her about it.
Her mother was Agnes Brown, daughter of Hugh Brown, carpenter and shop owner of Dunsandel and one of 11 children.
Her father, William Swanson (always called Willie) bought land in the Town of Selwyn from W.W. Hall and leased some from the O’Malley family.
Her parents initially farmed at Burnham but a N-W wind destroyed their crop and so they moved to Selwyn, probably just before WW1.
Margery was one of 6 children, but tragically her sister Joyce was killed in a farm accident when Joyce was 6 years old.
Electricity did not arrive in the Swanson house until about 1930. They used kerosene lamps hanging from the ceiling.
There used to be a few floods. In 1923, as Margery’s mother was in Christchurch giving birth to a son, Margery’s father cut a hole in the ceiling because he thought the flood was going to be a major one. Fortunately they did not have to go into the roof.
After Margery left and her brother lived in Selwyn, he had the floods through the house 2 or 3 times.
Margery’s earliest memories are of catching the 8.30 Ashburton train to go to school. The station master was very good and would hold the train up a bit if the children were running late.
The pupils always walked home if they didn’t get picked up, but people were quite good like that in those days.
The Upston family, who lived past the town, had a horse & gig.
When it was wet in the morning, the children did not go to school as they would have got very wet walking all the way home, and so they missed quite a bit of school.
There were few pupils from Selwyn when Margery started school in September 1924.
Only her great friend Percy Upston’s sister, Sadie, but also Margaret Upston and Margery’s siblings especially Andrew, comprised the group.
Margery left school in December 1932 to do “home duties” and she looked after children all her life.
There were three buildings that Margery remembers vividly.
The stables, which had remained after the hotel was shifted to Dunsandel, had a loft and the boys used to slide down from the loft. One of the boys came down and caught his head on a piece of concrete which knocked him out.
There was a billiards saloon on the west side of SH1 which was empty when Margery was a girl. Tommy Greer had the key.
Some of the young ones decided to have socials there so they cleaned it all out and they had dances with the billy being boiled outside. They used a gramophone for music.
Twenty to thirty people came by invitation.
Tommy Greer did not like it so he eventually sold the building and it was shifted to Dunsandel for an old soldiers’ room.
There used to be an icecream, sweets shop owned by Peter Tod who lived there with his mother.
It was burnt down in May 1932 after about a year of operation.
It was a new little shop attached to an old house. Both were destroyed. Margery and her mother were staying in Christchurch at the time.
Margery was quest of honour at the Town of Selwyn 150th and cut the celebration cake.
Information was taken from an interview with Margery in 2012.
Mike Noonan
Dunsandel Historic Society
Date13 April 2023SourceThe Ellesmere EchoLocationTown of Selwyn
DescriptionMargery was born on Armistice Day (11 November 1918) and so she was named Margery Jane Peace and although she never advertised her third name, her siblings used to tease her about it.Her mother was Agnes Brown, daughter of Hugh Brown, carpenter and shop owner of Dunsandel and one of 11 children.
Her father, William Swanson (always called Willie) bought land in the Town of Selwyn from W.W. Hall and leased some from the O’Malley family.
Her parents initially farmed at Burnham but a N-W wind destroyed their crop and so they moved to Selwyn, probably just before WW1.
Margery was one of 6 children, but tragically her sister Joyce was killed in a farm accident when Joyce was 6 years old.
Electricity did not arrive in the Swanson house until about 1930. They used kerosene lamps hanging from the ceiling.
There used to be a few floods. In 1923, as Margery’s mother was in Christchurch giving birth to a son, Margery’s father cut a hole in the ceiling because he thought the flood was going to be a major one. Fortunately they did not have to go into the roof.
After Margery left and her brother lived in Selwyn, he had the floods through the house 2 or 3 times.
Margery’s earliest memories are of catching the 8.30 Ashburton train to go to school. The station master was very good and would hold the train up a bit if the children were running late.
The pupils always walked home if they didn’t get picked up, but people were quite good like that in those days.
The Upston family, who lived past the town, had a horse & gig.
When it was wet in the morning, the children did not go to school as they would have got very wet walking all the way home, and so they missed quite a bit of school.
There were few pupils from Selwyn when Margery started school in September 1924.
Only her great friend Percy Upston’s sister, Sadie, but also Margaret Upston and Margery’s siblings especially Andrew, comprised the group.
Margery left school in December 1932 to do “home duties” and she looked after children all her life.
There were three buildings that Margery remembers vividly.
The stables, which had remained after the hotel was shifted to Dunsandel, had a loft and the boys used to slide down from the loft. One of the boys came down and caught his head on a piece of concrete which knocked him out.
There was a billiards saloon on the west side of SH1 which was empty when Margery was a girl. Tommy Greer had the key.
Some of the young ones decided to have socials there so they cleaned it all out and they had dances with the billy being boiled outside. They used a gramophone for music.
Twenty to thirty people came by invitation.
Tommy Greer did not like it so he eventually sold the building and it was shifted to Dunsandel for an old soldiers’ room.
There used to be an icecream, sweets shop owned by Peter Tod who lived there with his mother.
It was burnt down in May 1932 after about a year of operation.
It was a new little shop attached to an old house. Both were destroyed. Margery and her mother were staying in Christchurch at the time.
Margery was quest of honour at the Town of Selwyn 150th and cut the celebration cake.
Information was taken from an interview with Margery in 2012.
Mike Noonan
Dunsandel Historic Society
Date13 April 2023SourceThe Ellesmere EchoLocationTown of Selwyn Connections
CollectionHistory of Town of SelwynOrganisationDunsandel Historic Society
OrganisationDunsandel Historic SocietyAttribution
Researched ByMargery SwansonWritten ByMike Noonan
Written ByMike NoonanClick on the image to add
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Memories of Margery Swanson from the Town of Selwyn (13 April 2023). Selwyn Stories, accessed 29/05/2026, https://selwynstories.selwynlibraries.co.nz/nodes/view/5380