References to the Beaver can be found throughout Blenheim today,
including these Beavers next to the Taylor River in the heart of Blenheim.
Beaver town replica in
Brayshaw Park in the 197
0s.
BEAVERTOWN BUILT ON TWISTED TALES
Boomtown, The Boom, Beavertown. Over the years, Blenheim has been christened with many
labels; Beavertown among them. However, the town’s historic links to the North American
rodent may have originated as a friendly joke.
STORY: KAT DUGGAN
I
n a case of Chinese Whispers
that spans the centuries, the
name Beavertown has morphed from
Blenheim’s original names - ‘The Beaver’,
‘Beaver Station’ or ‘Beaverton’.
According to an article by Prue Matthews,
published in The Beavertown Express on
December 12, 1996, the names Blenheim
and Marlborough did not exist until 1860.
Prior to that, the flood-prone village of
Blenheim enjoyed the tongue-in-cheek
title of Beaver, a nod to pioneer surveyors
having to seek higher ground in a hurry.
“The Wairau district was subject to severe
flooding and on one occasion a party of
the 1847 pioneer surveyors had to seek
higher ground quickly as the water was
rising, so they climbed on the raupo roof
of their whare,” the article says.
“The story of their predicament was
related to someone who returned to
Nelson with an amusing tale of the
hapless surveyors “perched up there like
a lot of beavers”.
Over the years, as variations of
Marlborough’s history were passed on,
and despite it never being an official
name for the region; Beavertown stuck.
More than 100 years later, in the 1960s,
Marlborough locals began building a
replica village at Brayshaw Park, which
was given the name Beavertown.
Founded by the late Norm Brayshaw,
Beavertown was built by a team of
volunteers as a replica of the Blenheim
township from around 1900.
“Perhaps the name Beavertown should
be attributed to the members of the
Marlborough Historical Society, who,
along with many other eager volunteers
‘worked like beavers’ with the intention
of giving back to the province a little of
their important history in the form of
the replicated shops and buildings of old
Blenheim before they became lost and
faded into obscurity forever,” she wrote.
According to The Beavertown Express
article, the replica township had the
intention of giving back to the province.
“When the appropriate name for the
replica shops at Brayshaw Park was being
mooted it seemed only appropriate that
the original town of Beaver or Beaverton
should be remembered,” Pru wrote.
“Over the years (and on occasions that
I was involved in) type setters corrected
the spelling of ‘Beaverton’ to read
‘Beavertown’ thinking it was a spelling
error so already the name was starting
to take effect.”
The Beavertown Replica is located
at Brayshaw Park, 26 Arthur Baker
Place and continues to be run by
volunteers today.
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