“What did the kiwi bloke say while cutting down the last tree in Papanui Bush?” Here, I’m just re-phrasing of the question Jared Diamond wrote in his 2005 book ‘Collapse’. The original question Diamond posed was:
“What did the Easter Islander say while cutting down the last palm tree?”
Diamond was trying to make a point that humans make conseqeuntial decisions about their environment, wit their eyes wide-open. His question, and the book itself, triggered a very big (and on-going) debate. This is science in action – a good thing. However, some of the most negative responses he generated appear to mainly come from outrage that anyone could have been that stupid.
Easter Island/Rapanui forms the south-eastern point of the Polynesian triangle, while New Zealand is the south-western point. When European settlers arrived at the future site of the city of Christchurch, on New Zealand’s Canterbury Plains in 1850, Papanui Bush was one of the very few, tiny patches of bush (forest) on the plains. These were likely just the remnants of what had been much more extensive forests, before Polynesian settlers arrived, and altered the fire regime (But that is another story).
When Europeans arrived, (as one writer, Anon., 1928, put it), there was “only Riccarton Bush and Papanui Bush to relieve the monotony of the immense tussock covered Canterbury Plains” and as another pioneer (Baker, 1919) reminisced: these bushes were just a “few black spots on the Plains”. ‘F.M’ (1890) describes them as “once most famous land marks”, and added that “As is usual with native forests, on the outskirts of the bush were a number of cabbage trees, which, when seen from a distance and with the forest in the back-ground, have a pretty effect.”
One anonymous reporter (Anon, 1931a) wrote: “Colonists who remember Papanui Bush describe it as charmingly pretty spot, full of dells and shady vales, where many picnic party spent truly delightful day”, and Bruce (1933) wrote: “The forest at Papanui, though not extensive, was extremely beautiful, and many picnic party found its way by bullock dray to the dells and arbors which were feature of this piece of native bush.”
Inside the bush, ‘F.M’ (1890) wrote that “Large and stately black pines [matai], manukas and other trees abounded. The fuchsias were densely loaded with their small, black, pear-shaped berries”. Birdlife included tui and the mokamoko [the bellbird, or korimako], and “the bluish wild pigeons and branch-breaking cuckoo, also the owl or moepok”. Each “fine morning witnessed a great concert. Then thousands sang at the same time and produced a sweet and varied harmony”. A recent summary of Papanui Bush (Grant and Hudson, 2008) notes that “Accounts record totara, rimu (red pine), kahikatea (white pine), matai (black pine) and kanuka” as all growing within it.
The location and outline of Papanui Bush at the time of European settlement is known very precisely from the ‘Black Maps’. These are very accurate survey maps which have since been digitised and made available on the Canterbury Maps website.
The original extent of Papanui Bush (from the Black Maps) shown over an Open Street map.
They show Papanui Bush to have been about 1.2 x 0.5 km (an area of about 30 Ha) and located about four kilometers north of another small patch of forest v- Riccarton Bush. Curiously, a couple of newspaper reports suggest a link between these two patches of bush: one is ‘H.T.’ (1925), who wrote that “Papanui bush extended from North Road to Bishop’s Road, and from Northcote Road across Sawyer’s Arms Road, Langdown’s Road and Harewood Road, till it joined up with Riccarton Bush. The connection between the two was slight in places, the trees straggling out on the lighter soils.” The other is the ‘Reminiscences of Mr Edward Hick’ recorded in ‘The Star, Saturday, June 28, 1919. p. 8: “The Riccarton Road for some distance up was then nothing but bush land, with sawpits along the side of it. There was a sort of creek in the middle of the road going this way to where Ilam is now. and along this watercourse they used to sledge the fogs to the sawpits. … Pigeon Lane, now called Mandeville Road, was swamp all along, and the bush used to stretch backwards towards Papanui till it met the Papanui bush.” (I don’t know what to make of these comments as regards a previous link between the two patches, but they are worth keeping in mind.)
Being the only easily accessible source of timber on the plains – both of these small forests had enormous value to the Europeans – as building material and firewood. However, when the Canterbury Plains were surveyed, the existence of these almost priceless patches of forest were essentially ignored. Conceivably, they may have been surveyed off as state resources, or even reserved as public domains. Insread, the surveyed network of plots simply fell over them, and the portions became the property of whatever settler was lucky enough to end up with a bit. The result seems to have been a tree-felling frenzy.
This activity led to a ‘road’ developing directly from Papanui Bush to the center of what is now Christchurch city. As the bush was milled, the logs were hauled by carts (and sometimes floated) along it to the growing town (*see note below). As this road passed through an extensive wetland, getting the logs out was a horrific task – the mess can barely be imagined.
The importance of having a forest so close to a developing town, was so much that – “Papanui Bush was completely felled within the first five years of European settlement” (Christchurch City Council. Christchurch’s natural forest history).
Papanui Bush no longer exists – it was entirely erased. The total removal of the forest was done in full sight, and, as is documented, in the full knowledge that the last trees, were in fact – the last.
A reporter (H.T., 1925) noted that “The last few trees to stand were near Mr Charles Sisson’s old house off Langdon’s Road”, Anon (1931b) reported that “… all that is left to-day of that great forest is solitary tree in the orchard of Mr Chas. Sisson, on Langdon’s road”, while Grant and Hudson (2008) include a quote that “The last tree of the Papanui Bush, a totara, stood for some years after its fellows were gone.” These are very revealing comments – the “last few trees” were clearly a thing worth noting.
Some idea of the mindset of the times might be gleaned in an 1854 ‘communication’ from the ship ‘Eagle’ to ‘The Lyttelton Times’, which stated “The Papanui bush will soon be exhausted; and the increasing popularity of Kaiapoi points to the inexhaustible woods in that neighbourhood as the secret of its locality being so much in request. Kaiapoi possesses no advantages over Christchurch but in its abundance of wood”. To put this into some sort of context, the “inexhaustible woods” around Kaiapoi (Maori Bush, and the Church Bush) were in fact, a little larger than Papanui and Riccarton Bushes – but are also all gone today.
Decades later, one reporter (Anon, 1931b), wrote that: “With the [Papanui] bush cleared, rapid progress was made.” I had to read that comment several times to make sure I wasn’t misreading it. Really? When almost the only, tiny, source of easily accessible timber for Christchurch was annihilated – ‘rapid progress was made’?
Although whatever the person said when he cut he last tree down wasn’t recorded, it is known what happened to the tree. An article in ‘The Sun’ (‘Local and General’, Monday, July 19, 1915 p. 11) reports that among “the recent acquisitions to the Canterbury Museum is specimen of timber from the last tree felled in the Papanui Bush.” It goes on to say:
“The tree was sold at auction, by Mr Allport in 1859, and bought by Sir Jas. Jackson, of Harewood Road, for .£10 10/-. The value of the timber was 6/- per cord, and the average yield about 20 cords. The timber was sold at 35/- per cord.” (The same news was reported in The Lyttelton Times. Town and Country. Tuesday. July 20, 1915. p. 6.)
To summarise, probably the single most important resource for the fledgling city were two small patches of forest. But when the region was surveyed, no importance was given to protecting them. Papanui Bush was removed in about five years, but its last tree was regarded as notable enough to present a small fragment to the museum, while the rest was used as firewood.
Today, some appreciation of the loss has dawned. The original site of Papanui Bush is the present-day Papanui Domain, located off Sawyers Arms Road. “A small native garden and a mural painted on the nearby community hall today commemorate the great forest trees that once dominated the area” (Christchurch City Council, 1998). An extensive native planting lies along the western edge of what was Papanui Bush. The emphasis is on wetland plants, rather than forest, but a ring of what will become tall trees has been planted.
Google Jared Diamond’s Easter Island palm-tree comments and you are likely to find a lot of posts to the effect of ‘refuted!’ Many of the commentators have seized upon research concluding that ‘rats did it’ (Hunt and Lipo, 2009). That is, rather than humans being stupid enough to cut down all the trees, introduced rats ate the palm fruits, resulting in the palms dying out. However, the forest wasn’t entirely of palms. Even if the rats caused all the palms to die out – there would be a change in composition of the forest. The palm trees would be replaced with other kinds of tree (they weren’t all rat-food), and the forest itself would remain (e.g. Mieth and Bork, 2009). In other words, ultimate responsibility for deforestaion is still mostly likely – humans. In detail, Diamond may be wrong – the very last palm tree on Easter Island may not have been cut down. It may have been blown over, or just sucumbed to old age. But the evidence of humans causing a trail of massive destruction as they spread out over the Pacific is fairly solid (e.g. Duncan, et al., 2013). The substantial change in ecology on Rapanui/Easter Island is just one small part of that story. My money is on Jared Diamond’s view being pretty much on the mark.
So what did that kiwi bloke say while he was cutting down the last tree in Papanui Bush? (I think we can assume it was a bloke). Probably nothing, we can be a laconic lot – but maybe he was thinking of the income he would get from the firewood.
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*Note: A ‘census a few years later (from the 1860s) of traffic passing over what is now Hamish Hay Bridge on that road, in one day, was: “10 bullock drays drawn by 58 bullocks; 50 one-horse drays drawn by 60 bullocks; 36 carts drawn by 61 horses; 199 saddle horses; 20 head of cattle; 204 sheep, one donkey and cart, and 1000 foot passengers.”
References
Anon. 1919. Round about Riccarton. Reminiscences of Mr Edward Hick.
Farming, racing and bush-felling. The Star. Saturday, June 28, 1919. p. 8.
Anon., 1928. Obituary, Mrs Ellen Bruce. The Star, Monday, October 29, 1928, p. 11.
Anon. 1931a. Early days of Canterbury. Ferry Road was metalled from shingle pit in Victoria Square. The Christchurch Star, Saturday, October 24, 1931, p. 15
Anon, 1931b. Papanui suburb. Past progress and Future promise. An early-settled district. The Press, Saturday, July 25, 1931, p. 8.
Baker, R. 1919. From Lyttelton to Kaiapoi. Narrative of a Cressy Pioneer. Reminiscences of Mr Richard Baker. The Star, August 2, 1919, p. 4.
Bruce, S. 1933. ‘The early days of Papanui. Timber industry flourished in the bush near Christchurch. First schools and scholars.’ The Christchurch Star. Saturday, July 22, 1933, p. 29.
Christchurch City Council. 1998. Christchurch’s natural forest history. https://ccc.govt.nz/environment/trees-and-vegetation/urbanforest/natural-forest-history
Communication between the Port and the Plains, 1854. Onboard the ship, Eagle, Port Victoria, July 26th, 1854. The Lytellton Times, Vol. IV. No. 187. Saturday, August 5/ 1854. p. 1
Diamond, J. 2005. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. Penguin Books.
Duncan, R.P., Boyer, A.G., and Blackburn, T.M. 2013. Magnitude and variation of prehistoric bird extinctions in the Pacific. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. Mar 25;110(16):6436–6441. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1216511110
‘F.M.’ 1890. The bush once at Papanui. New Zealand Tablet, Friday July 25, 1890, p. 29-30.
Grant, C. and Hudson, W. 2008. The Papanui Bush. Papanui Heritage Group Publication. ISSN 1173-6909 06 (print). ISSN 2253-4830-06 (online). https://ccc.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Environment/Trees/Urban-Forests/Papanui-Bush.pdf
H.T. 1925. Old Papanui. Early days recalled. Supplement to The Star, Saturday. August 18, 1925, p. 9.
Hunt, T.L. and Lipo, C.P. 2009. Revisiting Rapa Nui (Easter Island) “Ecocide”. Pacific Science, 63: 601-616.
Mieth , A. and Bork, H.-R. 2009. Humans, climate or introduced rats – which is to blame for the woodland destruction on prehistoric Rapa Nui (Easter Island)? Jourmal of Archaeological Science. 1-10.
Acknowledgments
Contains data sourced from Canterbury Maps and partners licensed for reuse under CC BY 4.0. Thanks to Papers Past for digitising the various newspapers cited here!
