Photo of Otago Harbour
taken from the location
of the commemorative
plaque at Port
Chalmers.
In Dunedin’s Southern Cemetery
three beautiful celtic crosses can
be found in neighboring graves.
The graves are linked by a
common disaster.
What happened?
What is the story behind
these crosses?
We can find out more by visiting
the graves and reading the
headstones.
The tall Celtic cross bears four
marble plaques that
commemorate the deaths of the
Rev. Thomas Campbell and his
wife Marian, their five children
and their two servants who were
all drowned on the Pride of the
Yarra in Otago Harbour in 1863.
This inscription has
weathered badly so
that it now cannot
be read. We need to
go to older records
to find out what it
once said…
Fanny Finch
Aged 17
Servant of the Rev.
T. H. Campbell
Drowned
in the same
steamboat collision
4 July 1863
The inscription
reads…
Sarah Roberts
Aged 23
Servant of the Rev.
T. H. Campbell
Drowned
in the same
steamboat collision
4 July 1863
Not far from the Campbell family and
servants graves, the grave of another
victim of the collison can be found Charles Sommerville.
The inscription reads…
Erected
by Margaret
in memory of
her beloved husband
Charles Sommerville
Who was drowned in the
Pride of the Yarra
steamboat collision
July 4th 1863
Aged 46 years
A further victim was noted in the
newspapers of the time to be buried
close by but there is no headstone.
Charles
Sommerville
Block 2P Plot 28
The Campbell Family and
Servants Block 2P Plot 30
Map of Dunedin’s Southern Cemetery sourced from
http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/25
472/cemplot_southernphoto.pdf
The Rev. Thomas Campbell had arrived from England to take up the position of
Principal (or Rector) of the new High School (Otago Boys’ High School). He had just
arrived in Port Chalmers with his very young family of five children, aged 5 and less,
(Alfred was 6 weeks old and had been born on the voyage to New Zealand) and
several young servants after a 3 month voyage from England.
In 1863 there was only a track from Port Chalmers to Dunedin and ships were unable
to sail up the harbour to Dunedin. Small steamboats provided a regular service
ferrying passengers from Port Chalmers to Dunedin.
On the fateful Saturday (July 4th) the Rev. Campbell and his wife had travelled from
Port Chalmers to Dunedin to arrange a place to stay and agreed to assist with the
Sunday service and christen the baby. They returned to the ship later that afternoon
and loaded some luggage and the family on board the Pride of the Yarra.
The evening was clear but cold and the family huddled in the small cabin just below
deck, with about 8 – 10 others. There were an estimated 40 - 50 or so people on
board intending to travelled to Dunedin from Port Chalmers.
The Favorite was another small passenger ferry plying the Otago Harbour and on
this evening she was coming in the opposite direction from Dunedin on her usual
run.
(Otago Daily Times, 18 Jul 1863)
The crew of the Pride of the Yarra had seen the
lights of the Favorite approaching for some
distance. Captain Spence became alarmed when
the Favorite came so close. At the inquest he said,
“I ordered the helm a port three or four minutes
before the collision and it was about a minute or
two before we were struck that I ordered the
engine to be stopped and reversed.”
(Otago Daily Times, 9 Jul 1863) Papers Past.
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/
This image on the plaque is taken from a painting of
The Pride of the Yarra by H.C. Berry.
According to the Otago Daily Times
report at the time the captain of the
Favorite did not see the Pride until
the moment preceding the collision.
They turned the Favorite in
desperation and stopped the
engines. But it was too late.
Favorite struck the bow of Pride and
staved its bow plates almost to the
starboard
side.
(Otago Daily Times, 18 Jul 1863)
Papers
aperspast.natlib.govt.nz/
Past.http://p
The deck passengers were knocked over by the impact, but then clamoured to the
bow to grab at the rails of Favorite and clamber aboard as Pride was sinking fast.
Those in the cabin had no forewarning prior to the impact. It was impossible to
escape from the powerful inrush of water into the Pride’s cabin.
After a few minutes passengers were being
rescued from the water. But there was no
boat on Favorite or lifebuoys. The Favorite
stayed for 20 minutes or so and then set a
course for Port Chalmers to raise help.
(Otago Daily Times, 18 Jul 1863)
Papers
Past.http://p
aperspast.natlib.govt.nz/
In all there were 13 known
fatalities - 9 of whom
comprised the Campbell
family and their servants. Ten
have memorials at Dunedin’s
Southern Cemetery that can
be viewed today.
The funeral was held on Thursday 9th July at St Paul’s Church in the Octagon. (This
is not the church we see today. The church was later replaced with the current St
Paul’s Cathedral built in 1915).
The commissioner of police formed a mounted and foot-constable guard. Large
crowds stood “mute and sorrowful” as the coffins were carried out of the Provincial
Hotel where the inquest was held. (Macaw, J. 2001)
A hymn was sung at the service from the hymn books that the Rev Campbell had
brought with him from England and had left with the church on his first visit.
A procession of about 1500 - 2000 people stretched for over a kilometre as it
followed the hearses down Princes Street to the Southern Cemetery. (Otago Witness,
11 Jul 1863, Page 4)
The monument that now stands on top of the grave was brought out from
England in 1864. The octagonal base originally had eight porcelain plaques –
one for each family member and one telling the story. These plaques have been
replaced with the four marble panels shown in slide 3. (Macaw, J. 2001)
The school opened less than one month later on August 3 1863 with Mr. G.P Abram
acting as Rector.
Photo Caption:
The Head Prefect
of Otago Boys’
High School
Bernard Lunn lays
a wreath at the
grave of the Rev. T
Hewitt Campbell,
first Rector of the
school who was
drowned in Otago
Harbour on July 4
1863 while
coming up from
Port Chalmers to
take up his post
on the first day of
his appointment.
The grave is in the
Southern
Cemetery and the
rest of the
prefects attended
The loss of the school’s first principal in such tragic circumstances
has never been forgotten by the School.
This photograph, with the caption at left, was first published in The Evening Star, Saturday
August 3, 1963, p.2. Reproduced with permission from the Otago Daily Times.
In 2003 a memorial plaque was set
in place at Port Chalmers near
where the collision occurred.
Do you have harbour or river drowning and boating accident victims memorialised
in your local cemetery? If so record the name and date on the epitaph and
investigate.
Who are they? If you have more than one memorial you may like to create a trail in
your cemetery.
What happened? Find out more about the boating or ferry accident this person or
family was involved in. Look up the papers past website and find out about any
personal tragedies.
It is quite likely if you live near a larger coastal town or city there will be harbour
drowning and boating accident victims recorded in the local cemeteries. Boating
and harbour accidents was a quite common tragedy in 19th century New Zealand.
Find out why?
What other boating and ferry accidents can you find out about?
To present your findings you can create posters, the front page of a newspaper,
brochures, pamphlets or a PowerPoint.
Books
McCraw. J. (2001). Harbour Horror, Square One Press Dunedin.
Websites
The Histories of the Stevens—Croot Family Heritage Elizabeth Pearce
http://www.ournzheritage.com/histories_files/pearce.htm tells the story of the Campbell’s young servant who
survived because she accompanied the baggage from Port Chalmers to Dunedin.
Northern Cemetery Records
http://www.northerncemetery.org.nz/northerncemetery/application/dynamic/bio.cfm?BurialID=81334 There is
information about the Pride of the Yarra in the second section of this article.
Papers Past http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/
• Otago Daily Times. (9 July 1863). The Fatal Collision. Page 4
• Otago Witness. (11 Jul 1863). The Public funeral. Page 4.
• Otago Daily Times. (18 July 1863). Fatal Steam Boat Collison. Page 5.
• Otago Witness, (4 Nov 1908). The '' Pride of the Yarra" Tragedy. Page 87
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=OW19081104.2.281
Southern Cemetery map used in this resource was sourced from
http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/_media/docs/cemetery_maps/cemplot_southernphoto.pdf
Dunedin City Council: Location of Dunedin’s cemeteries
http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/location-pdfs