First Dunedin homes

THE first settlers— passengers on the John Wickliffe and the Philip Laing found, insteadoftheir accustomedpatterned simplicity, awildnaturalbeauty, unkempt and ubiquitous on their arrival.

The buildingofahouse,even averyhumbleone,was notan easy task in such awilderness of wood,flax andfern. In 1848 even Princes St wasstrewnwithtree stumps andtussock.

The pioneerswho had notso very long agodreamed of new homesacrossthe seas —homes accessibletofresh airand sunshine, wheretheir children might grow up free from the crampinginfluences of theOld Countrytenements —wereat first sadlydisillusioned.

Theylookedinvainfor the familiar fourwalls andthe reassuring welcome of the smokingchimney.But forthe moment they had to sinkthose first aspirationsand to resign themselvestoafurther period of communalexistence in the ‘‘immigrants’’barracks, along, lowbuildingofflax, rushes and small timber.Here, near the beach, betweenRattray and DowlingSts, womenand children settleddowntoawait patiently thebuildingoftheir newhomes.

The architecture of thefirst houses wasnecessarily simple

Oneortwo more fortunate settlers broughtwiththemwooden frames, butmostfavoureda mixtureof‘‘wattleand daub’’ and tree fern.Labourwas scarce At leastone enterprisingpioneer made good useofthe grove of treesthatcovered hishome site.Asitwas quite impossible, withoutagood deal of assistance, to clearthe trees, he choseinstead to leavethe outeronesand to fell thosewithin. Once this wasdone he topped theremainingtrees andcompleted thefourwalls by digging holes andinsetting the tree trunks cutdown. Thus, by degreessmall houses sprang up here andthere about theharbour front. Many of thesefirsthouseswere‘‘wattle anddaub’’—claymixed with chopped grass —and thatched with tussockortoetoegrass Even towardsthe closeof thefirst year of settlementthe earlytents andthe unattractive barracks were becomingless andlessconspicuous amongthe steadily increasingassemblageof permanentdwellings —someof