Old Jack Frost has well and truly arrived in Hakatere Ashburton. The signs are all there: the occasional morning frost on the car windscreen, cold toes when you hop out of bed, and that nagging feeling that you should be wearing the itchy jumper Grandma knitted for you instead of that cheap mass-produced hoodie, so you don’t hurt her feelings…
From last year however, there was one more addition to the list of signs of the season: the Staveley Ice Rink is open.
With a long history that spans from 1949 to today, the successful re-launch last year of the ice-skating and curling rink at Staveley is proof that there will always be interest in such timeless winter pastimes. But you may be wondering, before the ice rink at Staveley, where did locals go to get their fix of gliding, spinning, and falling flat on their bums atop a thick sheet of glimmering ice? The Ashburton Domain, of course!
A rare winter treat
We know from photographs in the Ashburton Museum & Historical Society Inc. Collection that ice skating was enjoyed in the Domain as early as the year 1895, or earlier. Skating proved popular in the Domain whenever conditions were permitting. Every few years or so, sharp frosts in June and July graced Ashburton with a suitable ice rink, which was good enough to even draw people from as far as Christchurch!
By July 1901, a local skating club was born, in response to the fact that “the reputation of Ashburton as an ice-skating resort [was] becoming well-known, and telegrams and correspondence from all parts of Canterbury [were] received daily as to the condition of the ice.”
One early news report in the Ashburton Guardian regarding ice skating from 18 July 1911, shows us that people were willing to get up pretty early to indulge in the sport, but the skating craze had not quite appealed to everyone:
“Why ice-skating should be so fascinating and alluring is somewhat difficult to realise. Perhaps it may be attributable to the spirit of venturesomeness that is associated with the exhilirating pastime. Be this as it may, a member of the mechanical staff of the Ashburton ‘Mail’ witnessed two well-known residents merrily sliding over the Domain lakelets at 3.45 this morning, and they appeared to be enjoying themselves immensely. The printer facetiously remarked that skating might be all very well, but to be snugly enclosed in a plentiful supply of blankets appealed to him as being more attractive.”
Aside from the Ashburton Domain, ice skating was also enjoyed at places such as the Mt. Harper ice skating area, and at Lake Camp, where in 1932, nearly 18cm. (7 inches) of ice was recorded. For the time when skating in the Domain was popular, too, enjoyment of the sport was not without its detractors, according to the Guardian in 1925:
“’It is certainly a shame that children, or whoever it is, should throw bottles, stones, and sticks on the ice of the Domain ponds,’ said Mr R. M. Dunlop at the Borough Council meeting last evening. This practice would make ice-skating impossible in the event of heavy frosts producing ice sufficiently thick to hold people. He moved that the Town Clerk write to the headmasters of the Ashburton schools requesting them to point out to the children the seriousness of the offence. This was agreed to. Other members of the council thought the trouble could be traced to boys older than those attending school.”
From the Museum Collection
This cap from Ashburton Technical School was worn by Cecil Rule Sparrow (1918 – 2012), a man who, for nearly all his life, worked on the same 600-acre farm at Lismore.
Cecil’s father Albert Hector Sparrow was part of the Sparrows clothing business in Ashburton until 1919, when he sold his share of the business to his brother to go farming.
Cecil attended Lismore School, and then went to Ashburton Technical School in 1932. He did not stay at Tech for long, though, as he was pulled out of school at age 15 to tend to the family farm after his father had an accident.
The Ashburton Technical School cap was donated to the Ashburton Museum in November 2022 as part of the Estate of Cecil Rule Sparrow. (Object ref. 07.2023.0002.1).
By Connor Lysaght
Unless otherwise stated, photographs and research materials on this page are owned by the Ashburton Museum & Historical Society Inc. This post was modified for this blog and was originally published in the Ashburton Guardian, 8 July 2023.
Ashburton Museum Blog 
Leave a comment