In 1874, local settlers formed the Timaru Game Society, which became the South Canterbury Acclimatisation Society. Their aim was to introduce animals they considered useful or desirable, whether for food, hunting, fishing, pest control or a reminder of Britain.
I found a fascinating report in the Timaru Herald of 2 June 1875. The Society had purchased 25 partridges, 40 blackbirds, 40 yellowhammers and numerous other imported birds, to be housed temporarily in an aviary at the Timaru Domain before release. By 1881, it was also purchasing trout and pheasants. This was part of the same nineteenth-century enthusiasm for introducing species that encouraged experiments with honeybees, bumblebees and European pasture plants, although Emma Belfield's bumblebee shipment was a separate undertaking.
Some introductions created valuable recreational and economic opportunities. Others became pests or placed pressure on native wildlife. What people once welcomed as improvements to the landscape sometimes became problems later generations have had to manage.
Why did settlers introduce foreign wildlife?
In the nineteenth century, many European settlers believed New Zealand's landscape could be improved by introducing familiar plants and animals. Acclimatisation societies brought birds for their songs, pheasants and partridges for hunting, trout for fishing, and insect-eating birds to help protect crops. In 1875, the South Canterbury Acclimatisation Society was importing birds such as blackbirds and yellowhammers for release around Timaru. But New Zealand already had its own extraordinary wildlife and ecological relationships. Some introductions proved useful, while others became pests, competed with native species or damaged their habitats. What settlers regarded as improvements sometimes created problems we are still managing today.