Bay Harbour: March 15, 2017

PAGE 10 BAY HARBOUR Latest Christchurch news at www. .kiwi<br />

Wednesday <strong>March</strong> <strong>15</strong> <strong>2017</strong><br />

ews<br />

Reunion celebrates<br />

Danish settler history<br />

ABOUT 70 descendants of<br />

19th-century Danish settler Peter<br />

Sorensen visited sites around<br />

Banks Peninsula recently for a<br />

family reunion.<br />

Descendants met first at<br />

the Greenpark Memorial<br />

Community Centre before<br />

spending the weekend visiting<br />

various Banks Peninsula<br />

locations associated with the<br />

family history.<br />

The reunion culminated with<br />

a get-together at the Akaroa Recreation<br />

Ground.<br />

Mr Sorensen, a carpenter,<br />

and his wife Rasmine made the<br />

journey from Yding, Denmark, to<br />

Lyttelton onboard the Cardigan<br />

Castle in 1873.<br />

Conditions in Denmark were<br />

not good at the time and the<br />

New Zealand Government was<br />

initially recruiting immigrants.<br />

The Sorensens’ children Karen<br />

and Nielsine also made the voyage.<br />

A third child had died of<br />

cholera in London after arriving<br />

there from Denmark and three<br />

other children, Mary, Frederick<br />

and Bodiline were born in New<br />

Zealand.<br />

The family settled, first at<br />

Robinsons <strong>Bay</strong>, and then in the<br />

GET TOGETHER: About 70 people attended the Sorensen<br />

family reunion. ​<br />

Little River area, and lived there<br />

for many years.<br />

Family members worked at the<br />

Robinsons <strong>Bay</strong>, Springvale and<br />

Tarawera mills.<br />

The children married into<br />

families in the Banks Peninsula<br />

area and Christchurch, before<br />

dispersing out to various farms<br />

throughout Canterbury and<br />

beyond.<br />

Bodiline Sorensen worked as<br />

a housekeeper for the Rhodes<br />

brothers at Flea <strong>Bay</strong> before marrying<br />

Greek-born Akaroa launch<br />

operator Demetrius Koinomopolus.<br />

They were better known locally<br />

as Mr and Mrs Dominique.<br />

Mrs Dominique, who lived to<br />

94, was well regarded in Akaroa<br />

for growing fruit trees and selling<br />

the fruit and preserves. The<br />

Dominique’s house at 20 Percy<br />

St still has some of those original<br />

apple and pear trees. She was also<br />

known for her fine embroidery<br />

and her marriage certificate,<br />

which she worked in cross-stitch,<br />

was on show at the Akaroa Museum<br />

over the reunion weekend.<br />

Many of the descendants at the<br />

reunion came from Canterbury,<br />

Otago and Southland. Some also<br />

came from the North Island and<br />

Australia, as well as as far afield<br />

as Wisconsin and Vietnam.<br />

Only one descendant of Mr<br />

Sorensen lives on the peninsula<br />

today, a great, great granddaughter<br />

who lives in Takamatua.<br />

SEND-OFF: More than 360 people farewelled godwits on<br />

Friday evening. The birds have started an 11,000km migration<br />

journey to Alaska. About 800 birds left last week with 750<br />

expected to leave this week. “It was just fabulous to see so<br />

many people taking an interest in these unique migrating<br />

birds, it shows that people truly value wildlife in and on the<br />

estuary,” Avon-Heathcote Estuary Ihutai Trust co-ordinator<br />

Tanya Jenkins said.<br />

ECLECTIC: The Hell Fire Club owner Roz Dixon celebrating<br />

her new bar in the British Hotel in Lyttelton. The club had<br />

a soft opening two weeks ago and the response from the<br />

community has been “really good,” she said. Mrs Dixon hopes<br />

the club will be a creative space for locals to go and perform<br />

in a welcoming environment. PHOTO: MARTIN HUNTER<br />

What happens<br />

to the contents<br />

of your green bin?<br />

Come along to the<br />

Organics Processing Plant<br />

FREE OPEN DAY!<br />

Saturday 18 <strong>March</strong><br />

10am–3pm<br />

40 Metro Place, Bromley<br />

(next to EcoDrop)<br />

Parking onsite or<br />

on Metro Place<br />

Hosted by<br />

• Plant tour every 30 minutes<br />

• Tips and tricks to make your<br />

garden grow!<br />

• Prizes and giveaways<br />

• Informative, educational and<br />

fun for the whole family.<br />

RED<br />

GREEN<br />

YELLOW<br />

For more information, phone 941 8999 or<br />

visit loveyourrubbish.co.nz<br />

C’mon Christchurch<br />

let’s get our<br />

rubbish sorted!