By Roselyn Fauth
"Mrs Major Hornbrook of Arowhenua Station. Photo from the Burnett Collection. A portrait identified as "The first white woman to enter South Canterbury, Mrs Major Hornbrook of Arowhenua Station". Bears the title on the mount below the print and the label of Havelock Williams Art Studio on the verso. Note that Margaret Hornbroiok has been recorded as the first white woman to enter South Canterbury, but she was married to William Hornbrook, not his brother, Major Alfred Hornbrook."
I wonder if you can drive slowly along Station Road near Arowhenua, and see the weathered woolshed beside the Opihi River. It’s one of the oldest surviving farm buildings in New Zealand, built nearly 170 years ago. But this humble timber building holds more than rural charm; it holds the story of a remarkable woman — Margaret Hornbrook, the first European woman known to settle permanently in South Canterbury. Who was the young woman who left Scotland for a faraway colony?
Margaret Smith was born in Kirriemuir, Scotland, in 1828. When she was just thirteen, she sailed with her parents, David and Mrs Smith, aboard the Arab bound for Wellington. They arrived in 1841, part of a new wave of settlers hoping to build fresh lives in a still-unfamiliar land.
A few years later, Margaret married William Hornbrook, the youngest son of Colonel Lyde Richards Hornbrook of the Royal Marines. The marriage would take her far from the settled world she knew — to a frontier that few women of her time had ever seen.
How did she end up on the edge of nowhere?
In 1851, William’s brother Major Alfred Hornbrook applied for a 12,000-hectare pastoral run near the Opihi River — only the second in South Canterbury. Alfred remained based at Mount Pleasant near Lyttelton, while William went ahead to manage the new property, which he named Arowhenua Station.
Two years later, Margaret followed with their two small daughters, travelling by sea on the Despatch and arriving in February 1854. Imagine that landing: no jetty, no roads, no fences, just open plains and wind-tossed tussock. She was, as far as the records show, the first European woman to live permanently south of the Rangitata River.
What did life at Arowhenua look like?
William built their homestead and woolshed from timber milled on the property — the same one still standing today. The couple lived alongside Māori neighbours from Arowhenua Pā and a handful of workers: five Māori men and a Māori woman cook, according to early records.
It was a hard life, but not without companionship. In 1857, Bishop Henry Harper visited and held South Canterbury’s first Anglican service in the woolshed. Margaret kept house, raised her children, and extended kindness to anyone passing through.
Her own words, rediscovered a century later, speak volumes about her courage. In a letter published in 1963, she wrote:
“Three days after my boy was born, a traveller fell into the river and I ran and pulled him out. It was a great effort, as I was still weak.”
That boy — William Richard Hornbrook, born 17 November 1854 — is recorded as the first European child born in South Canterbury. It’s hard to imagine a clearer picture of strength: a woman barely out of childbirth saving a stranger from the river.
What happened when the great runs broke up?
By the 1870s, the vast pastoral leases of South Canterbury were being divided for smaller farms. The Hornbrooks moved north to Seadown in 1871, farming Hollywell Farm. When William died in 1882, Margaret managed the property herself for decades — practical, independent, and deeply respected.
She also gave back. In 1897, she laid the foundation stone of the Temuka Pioneers’ Obelisk, a monument honouring the settlers of the district — a symbolic act by a woman who had been there from the beginning.
How was she remembered at the end?
When Margaret died in 1912, aged 84, the Timaru Herald described her as: “An excellent adviser in cases of illness… frequently called upon to deal with accidents and wounds, and noted for her kindness generally.”
She had lived long enough to see Temuka grow from a patch of tussock to a bustling town, surrounded by fertile farms. Her descendants — including her eldest son, the district’s first-born European child — carried her legacy into the new century.
What remains of her world today?
The Arowhenua Station woolshed, built around 1853–54, is now recognised as a Category A heritage building — one of the oldest of its kind in the country. The Temuka Pioneers’ Fountain (1912) and the Pioneers’ Obelisk (1897) still stand as civic tributes to the early families, including the Hornbrooks.
But what moves me most are Margaret’s own words. She didn’t see herself as a heroine — just someone doing what had to be done. That quiet resilience, that instinct to help others, still defines what we like to think of as South Canterbury spirit.
What does “first” really mean?
When we call Margaret “the first woman of South Canterbury,” we mean the first documented European woman to settle permanently here. Māori, of course, had lived at Arowhenua for centuries — the heart of Ngāi Tahu’s southern territory.
Other women may have passed through with sealing or whaling crews, but no records show any earlier permanent female settlers. Margaret’s life is one of the earliest we can trace clearly through letters, newspapers, and buildings still standing today.
So her “first” is both literal and symbolic: the first European woman to make a lasting home on this land, and a reminder that the story of settlement sits alongside a much older story of occupation and belonging.
Why does her story still matter?
Margaret Hornbrook’s life reminds us that history isn’t only made by explorers or politicians — it’s built through daily acts of endurance and care. She raised children, comforted neighbours, laid stones, and saved lives. She made something from nothing.
When I picture her wading into that cold river, still weak from childbirth, I see a woman of grit and compassion — someone who believed in the possibility of building a home at the edge of the known world. It’s a story worth remembering every time we drive past that old woolshed on Station Road.
Can you visit Arowhenua Station today?
The Arowhenua Woolshed (269 Station Road, Temuka) sits on private farmland. You can view it safely from the roadside, where it’s visible across the paddocks. However, there’s no public walking access beyond the road without permission from the landowner.
If you’d like to get closer, you can check current property ownership through LINZ (Land Information New Zealand) or contact the Timaru District Council’s heritage team for advice on visiting heritage sites on private land. Please respect fences, stock, and farm operations — the building has stood this long thanks to careful stewardship by the property’s owners.
History Hunt: Trace Her Story
See: Arowhenua Woolshed, Station Road, Temuka (from roadside).
Visit: Temuka Domain — the Pioneers’ Obelisk (1897) and Fountain (1912).
Read: Timaru Herald, 6 April 1963, “Letters Found in Timaru Give Account of Pioneering Life in South Canterbury.”
Reflect: on how courage and care built this region — one letter, one rescue, one woman at a time.
Sources: Timaru Herald (6 Apr 1963; 12 Mar 1912); The Press (6 Nov 1897); Notable South Canterbury Women (1993); Timaru District Council Heritage Report Arowhenua Station Woolshed & Cow Byre (Items 87/88); William Vance (1951, 1950s); South Canterbury Museum Burnett Collection 2015154033.
- First "white woman" to enter South Canterbury in February 1854.
- Her husband, William Hornbrook, managed his brother Alfred’s Arowhenua Station.
- They brought two daughters, one of whom was Caroline.
- In 1854, a son, William Richard (known as Richards Hornbrook), was born—the first white child in South Canterbury.
- Mrs. Hornbrook mentioned in a letter that they left many old relics behind when leaving Arowhenua Station, and she did not know what happened to them.
- Rescued a traveler from drowning just three days after giving birth.
- Lived ten miles from The Levels, helping break isolation for the Rhodes family.
J B Hamilton, Letters Found in Timaru Give Account Of Pioneering Life in South Canterbury (06 April 1963). Aoraki Heritage Collection, accessed 05/03/2025, https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/5244