Let’s celebrate what Timaru and our region has to offer with a bit of free fun! Take this handout and a crayon with you and see if you can collect all of the brass rubbing sites in Timaru and across the Region!
Download A4 | Download A3
Rubbing Plaques in Timaru
LIGHTHOUSE - 1879-1970 LOCATION: Top of Benvenue Cliffs. Depicts Blackett’s Lighthouse which began life on the cliff tops adjacent to The Terrace in Timaru. The lighthouse has been on its current site since 2010.
SHIPWRECKS 1882 LOCATION: Top of Benvenue Cliffs. Depicts the city of Perth. The Ben Venue and City of Perth broke loose from their moorings in 1882.
WHALING TRY POT 1830 LOCATION: Beside the rose bushes near the public toilets. This is the path leading into the Bay from the Bay Hill Viaduct. Depicts the Whaling Trypot used by early whalers who visited Timaru in the 1830's and operated from near this site.
STRATHALLAN 1859 LOCATION: On the lawn terrace above the Sound Shell seating. Depicts the Strathallan, one of the first immigrant ships to bring 120 settlers to Timaru.
ROCKET BRIGADE 1880 LOCATION: At the bottom of the The Terrace footbridge and shows the rocket brigade that used to operate in poor weather to warn ships of local reefs prior to the lighthouse being constructed. Used in the early to mid-1880s. The equipment saved 100 lives.
SOUND SHELL 1937 LOCATION: Near the carpark on Marine Parade adjacent to the skating rink and shows the Sound Shell which has hosted Carnival concerts and other events since is was built in 1937.
HECTOR’S DOLPHIN LOCATION: At the bottom of the South Canterbury Museum steps on Perth St. Hector’s Dolphin is found in the coastal water off Timaru and South Canterbury and is now endangered.
Rubbing Plaques in the Region
PLEASANT POINT: At the Pleasant Point Museum and Railway
RAINCLIFF: At the Raincliff Historic Reserve
RAKAIA: Opposite the Rakaia Four Square, Railway Terrace, Rakia Village
TEMUKA: At the Richard Pearse Memorial Car Park, Waitohi.
FYI, these sites were in the original hunt 20 years ago, but now no longer exist: ASHBURTON: Outside the Ashburton Information Centre, East Street, FAIRLIE: On the forecourt of the MacKenzie District Council Building, GERALDINE: Outside the Geraldine Museum, Cox Street, METHVEN: On the Village Green, Methven Township, MOUNT COOK: Outside the National Park Headquarters, Mt SOMERS: LOCATION: Outside the Restaurant, Mount Somers, TEMUKA: At the Richard Pearse Memorial Car Park, Waitohi, TWIZEL: At the Boulder Fountain, in the Market Place. Brass Rubbings originated in the Middle Ages (476 AD) in the United Kingdom. 20 years ago, Mt Cook Marketing Ltd established a Passport to the region to improve the awareness of our tourist spots and attractions.
When I was a kid, my dad gave me a navy blue passport and a gold crayon.
I cannot remember every stop we found, but I remember the feeling. There was a mission attached to that little passport. Somewhere around Timaru and South Canterbury were brass rubbing posts, and if you found them, you could place the page over the plaque, rub across it with the crayon, and collect the image.
The picture slowly appeared under your hand. A lighthouse. A ship. A dolphin. A small piece of local history, turning up on the page because you had found the right place and taken the time to look.
I have been thinking about that old passport again because it was such a good idea. It got children walking, looking, asking questions and pulling adults along too. It made local history feel like a treasure hunt. Then, somehow, it faded away.
The odd thing is that the posts did not all disappear. Some are still around Timaru, quietly sitting there. The passport seems to have gone, and the trail is not as visible as it once was, but the idea is still there.
So I thought, why not bring it back in a small way?
I have made a printable brass rubbing sheet so people can collect the rubbings again, just like I did a few decades ago. It does not need to be fancy. You only need a printed page, a crayon or soft pencil, and a bit of curiosity.
The brass rubbing trail was a little 1990s tourism idea
Brass rubbing itself is much older than the Timaru trail. It is usually linked with medieval church brasses in Britain, where people placed paper over metal memorial plates and rubbed across them to copy the design.
Our South Canterbury version was more playful, but the basic idea was similar. You made a direct impression from something connected to the past.
When I started looking back into the trail, I first thought it might have been a mid 2000s project. The dates seem to point earlier than that. The trail appears to belong to the late 1990s, and was linked to Mt Cook Marketing Ltd, a Timaru based regional marketing company incorporated in 1988 and removed from the companies register in 1998. Its registered office was at 27 Strathallan Street, which feels very Timaru.
A later WuHoo Timaru handout says that “20 years ago”, Mt Cook Marketing Ltd established a Passport to the region to improve awareness of local tourist spots and attractions. As that handout was produced in 2018, it points back to about 1998.
That makes the story even better. The company has gone. The old passport has disappeared. Some of the wider regional stops seem to have gone too. But the posts in Timaru survived.
What I like about the trail is that you do not need to start with a long history lesson.. you find the post first. You make the rubbing. Then you ask, what is this?
At Benvenue Cliffs, the lighthouse rubbing connects to Blackett’s Lighthouse, first lit in 1878. It was later decommissioned, moved to Māori Park, and then moved again to Benvenue Cliffs in 2010.
The shipwrecks plaque connects to one of Timaru’s most dramatic maritime stories: the wrecks of the Ben Venue and City of Perth on 14 May 1882. During the rescue efforts, six men drowned. Once you know that story, the cliffs feel different.
The whaling plaque takes us back earlier again, to 1839, when the Sydney based Weller brothers established a short lived whaling station at Timaru. It is not a simple or comfortable history now, but it is part of the story of this coastline.
The Strathallan plaque remembers the immigrant ship that arrived at Timaru in January 1859. The Rocket Brigade plaque points to the volunteer lifesaving crews who worked from the Caroline Bay cliffs, using rocket equipment to help reach shipwrecked sailors. The Sound Shell plaque connects to the Caroline Bay Soundshell, handed over to the people of Timaru in December 1936.
Each rubbing is small, but each one leads somewhere.
Why bring it back?
I like activities like this because they are low cost, low fuss and clever.
You do not need an app. You do not need to pay. You can do one rubbing on a walk, or try to collect the lot. It also makes heritage active. You are not just reading a sign. You are using your hands. You are noticing the shape of a ship, a lighthouse, a dolphin, a try pot. I love doing these and so do our children.
So I have made a printable download for anyone who wants to give it a go. Print it out, take a crayon, and see what you can find. Some of the old regional sites may no longer exist, but there are still plaques around Timaru waiting to be rediscovered.
For me, it is also a small way of remembering my dad handing me that passport and crayon, and giving me one of my earliest lessons in how fun local history could be.
Sources and useful links
WuHoo Timaru’s brass rubbing page and handout are the key sources for the surviving trail, the “Passport to the region” wording, the Mt Cook Marketing reference, and the note that some former regional sites no longer exist.
https://wuhoo.nz/brass-rubbings
https://wuhootimaru.co.nz/images/Brass-Rubbing/WUHOOTIMARU-CarolineBay-BrassRubbing-Map-Handout-180926-A3.pdf
Mt. Cook Marketing Limited company listing records the incorporation date, removal date and registered office at 27 Strathallan Street, Timaru.
https://www.companiesnz.com/company/393994/
Heritage New Zealand’s listing for Blackett’s Lighthouse confirms the November 2010 relocation to Benvenue Cliffs.
https://www.heritage.org.nz/list-details/2044/Listing
Aoraki Heritage Collection gives a concise local summary of Blackett’s Lighthouse, including its 1878 service date, 1970 end as the main harbour navigation light, 1980 move, and 2010 move to Benvenue Cliffs.
https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/3667
Te Ara confirms the Weller brothers established a short lived whaling station at Timaru in 1839.
https://teara.govt.nz/en/artwork/11331/timaru-whalers-huts
CPlay’s Strathallan story gives the 12 October 1858 departure and 14 January 1859 arrival dates for the immigrant ship.
https://www.cplay.co.nz/stories/303-in-1859-120-settlers-arrived-on-the-strathallan-ship-direct-from-the-uk
Te Ara’s Rocket Brigade entry says the equipment was used to save 100 lives and shows the brigade below the Caroline Bay cliffs in the early to mid 1880s.
https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/11393/timarus-rocket-brigade
Te Ara and NZHistory both cover the Ben Venue and City of Perth wrecks at Timaru on 14 May 1882.
https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/7291/the-ben-venue-and-city-of-perth
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/memorial/timaru-shipwreck-memorial
Timaru District Council’s heritage assessment for the Caroline Bay Soundshell confirms the acoustic pavilion was handed over in December 1936.
https://www.timaru.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/673853/Historic-Heritage-Assessment-Report-HHI30-Caroline-Bay-Soundshell-Category-B.pdf