Imagine who lived in one of Timaru's early cob cottages and who helped build it? Made of clay and tussock and built for the young wife of an early settler, this one is amazingly still standing on Avenue Rd – though it has seen some changes. As Timaru evolved, so too did this cottage with the building clad in weather board over the cob and a kitchen added at the back. It is thought to have been built around 1860’s by Samuel Barkley, who is thought to have had the help of the Deal Boatmen: skilled boat handlers and the first the be burried at Timaru’s Kensington cemetery.
The Early Timaru borough only went as far west as Grey Road. It wasn't until 1898 that "the outskirts" including Avenue Road were incorporated into the borough. Cob cottages were a popular form of accommodation in Timaru's early days, because they were easily and quickly constructed at a time when the owner did practically all the work himself. In The South Canterbury History, Record of Settlement, OA Gillespie says: Little timber was required for cob, only sufficient to hold the puddled clay in place until it dried, and for door posts, window frames and rafters. The cob itself was a mixture of clay and chopped-up tussock, to which water was added until it attained the consistency of thick porridge.
We think Barkley was helped by at least one of the Deal boatmen, a group of six experienced boat handlers who had emigrated from England to Lyttelton, and were engaged in 1859 for work on Le Cren and Cain's landing service. The men engaged were John Wilds, Morris Corey, Robert Boubius, Henry Clayson, William John Roberts and John J. Bowles. However being a boatman was a dangerous profession, and Morris and Robert were the first to be buried in Timaru cemetery after drowning off Timaru in 1860. Clayson drowned soon after his arrival and was replaced by Phillip Foster, also from Deal.
Bugler John Wilds is seen in the photo in the slideshow as a child holding the hand of his grandfather John Wilds, one of the Deal boatmen who came to Timaru in 1859, at the Wilds' home in North Street on the site of the present Timaru Boys' High School, circa 1899.
How you can join the history hunt...
If you are looking to learn about the Deal Boat Men, check out this website that what we used: sites.rootsweb.com/cob
The information about John Wildes is from here: www.genealogy.org.nz/2016-10-SthCanterbury.pdf and timdc.pastperfectonline.com/CDD5274A-6CDF-4177-B184-472136443765
See the photo of John Wilds and his family outside their home on North Street 1896: https://timdc.pastperfectonline.com/photo/CDD5274A-6CDF-4177-B184-472136443765