"Ready Money" Robinson
The Mt Beautiful vineyard lies on land that once belonged to the colourful William “Ready Money” Robinson. He bought the Cheviot Hills land in 1856, earning his nickname by paying with wheelbarrows of hard cash! His sheep run covered all of 33,600ha, stretching from the Waiau River in the north to the Hurunui River in the south, and from the Lowry Hills in the west to the east coast.
After Robinson's death in 1889, his five daughters agreed to sell the land to the government, who divided it to provide small farming units for settlers. At the time, people were putting lots of pressure on the government to "bust up the big estates" and "put the small man on the land".
Robinson's property was the first big landholding in New Zealand to be divided piecemeal by ballot. The process was conducted in three ballots from November 1893 to May 1894.
Relics of the past
The original gardens and the ruins of William “Ready Money” Robinson’s house can still be seen in the Cheviot Domain.
Robinson's figure looms large over the Cheviot Hills region as the major landowner during the crucial settlement years in the last half of the Nineteenth Century.
The original homestead was built in 1868 and extended in 1888 to complete the Mansion House. After the land was sold, Robinson's daughter Lady Sara Campbell bought the house and continued to live there until her death in 1927. The Mansion House burnt down in 1936.
The main remaining relic from Robinson's day is the Bell Tower, which was erected in 1870 to call people to work or warn of danger.
Prime Minister from Cheviot Hills
One of the people who drew a section of William "Ready Money" Robinson's original sheep run in the government ballot of 1893 went on to become Prime Minister of New Zealand.
George Forbes (1869–1947) took a leading role in local politics and was elected to Parliament in 1908, holding the Hurunui seat until his retirement in 1943. In 1930, “Honest George” Forbes became Prime Minister of a country in the throes of the Depression. It was a tumultuous time and in 1935 his party was defeated at the polls.
Forbes spent his last years back in Cheviot. The George Forbes Memorial Library at Lincoln Agricultural College in Canterbury still carries his name.
Cheviot Hills war hero
Cheviot Hills farmer Charles Upham (1908-1994) won the British Commonwealth's highest medal for bravery, the Victoria Cross… twice! Upham was the only combat soldier ever to achieve this feat.
His first VC was awarded for an incident in Crete in May 1941. Upham destroyed a number of enemy outposts, penetrated deep behind German lines, rescued a wounded man and led an isolated platoon back to their own lines, all while carrying two wounds.
In July 1942 he won his second VC in the Western Desert. Captain Upham led his company in an attack on enemy strongpoints. He was personally responsible for destroying a tank, several machine guns and other vehicles with hand grenades. Even though wounded, he continued to lead his troops until his capture.
When Upham was to receive his medals after the war, King George VI asked Major-General Howard Kippenberger whether the young Kiwi deserved to get the medal twice. To which the general answered, "In my respectful opinion, sir, Upham has won the VC several times over."
After the war, Upham returned to farm in the Cheviot Hills.
