A History of the Gifting of the Land

By Lucy Nanson

My mother Betty Nanson (nèe; Murray) came from a well known Mackenzie Country family who have farmed for generations in this area. Her father George Murray decided to buy land along the frontage of Lake Tekapo when it first became available for sale in 1908. He then placed several of these sections in his children's names. Betty's sister was given legal title to a lake-front section on which the old Pennscroft cottage was eventually built and a section beside it as well.

George's youngest child Betty was not born until 1911 so she was the last to be given land on the edge of Lake Tekapo by her father. This came about after a decision at a meeting in1933 to build a church beside Lake Tekapo. When suitable land was advertised for sale in May 1934, George Murray decided to attend this auction. The triangle of land comprised five sections [1A-1E] facing Lake Tekapo and the Tekapo River which made the site particularly suitable for the proposed church with its uninterrupted views across the lake to the mountains. There were also fishermen attending the auction who were interested in buying sections of this land for building baches which would have made the immediate surrounding area for the church less attractive. George Murray was therefore determined to outbid the fishermen and buy the full triangle of land "to save the possibility of the proposed site being built around by others in an undesirable way" [The Tekapo Building Committee Minutes 11 October 1934]. His final bid was successful and he placed all five land-titles in his youngest daughter's name. Since Betty Murray had recently married Gerald Nanson each of the land-titles stated the following: "Betty Wilmot Nanson wife of Gerald Leighton Nanson of Hokitika, Civil Engineer" It is interesting to note that it would appear a married woman in that era was unable to legally own land in her own right without being described on the land title as the "wife of..."

The plan was for the Church of The Good Shepherd to be built on section 1A with its uninterrupted views of the lake and the mountains. This would have enabled Betty to retain the lake-view sections of 1B and 1C, and the land along the river's edge of 1D and 1E for her own use. Unfortunately complications arose in regard to section 1A, for it was soon discovered that the Ministry of Works was planning to raise the lake by approximately 10 metres which would have submerged the original area chosen for the church. These unexpected complications meant Betty needed to be approached by the Tekapo Building Committee for the purchase of her lake-front section of 1C [along with a small portion of 1D] in order for them to reposition the proposed church. An amount of twenty five pounds was paid to her in November 1934 for this land area. Then to ensure no other buildings were placed nearby, a Mr Peter Hope from England kindly donated the cost for the Church purchasing section 1B from Betty in May 1935. She was paid twenty pounds for her last remaining lake-front section. In spite of the additional complications from repositioning the church site, there is no doubt from the Minutes of the Tekapo Building Committee meetings that the Murray family in the Mackenzie Country were wanting to ensure the cost of the actual site for the church would be gifted by them.

It is important to remember that during the years of the sighting, the purchase, and the early gifting of land for the Church of the Good Shepherd, these were the Depression years. Not even well established sheep farmers had much spare cash at the time. Betty Murray had recently married Gerald Nanson, a young civil engineer who was also living in very poor circumstances in his first job on the West coast. Their first home was what would be considered today a tin-shack and they slept in a bed which her husband had made from apple-boxes. In these circumstances there would have been no expectation from her family to give her lake-front sections to the Church without financial reimbursement, particularly since she was to forfeit any possible future development of them for her own use.

Within the family it was common knowledge our mother still owned land surrounding the Church of the Good Shepherd for many years after it was built. Her remaining land area amounted to well over half the initial purchase bought by her father in May 1934, of which she paid the rates when they were first instituted. Back in 1957 I remember my mother speaking to me about giving her last remaining land to the Church, since she still retained legal title to three of the five sections. Those sections were 1A, 1E, and most of 1D. Apparently 1A was little affected by changes to the lake levels. The legal Memorandums of Transfer confirms her gifting of this land to the Diocese of Christchurch took place in December 1957 after her owning it for twenty three and a half years.

There is no doubt Betty was reimbursed financially for the earlier loss of her lake-front sections when they were purchased by the Church, but she had lost the choice to develop them the way her sister was able to in the future with her lake-front sections when they were both financially more secure. Then, with the eventual decision to keep the whole land area for the church in its natural state of glacial rocks and tussock grasses, this now meant that Betty's last remaining land area could not be used by her for any other purpose. After this decision had been made the only option left to her was to either sell or gift her remaining land to the Church, of which she chose the latter. Somehow it seems ironical, the only piece of land Betty Nanson was ever to own but never able to use for herself in the Mackenzie Country has now become the most precious and sacred piece of land in the whole area.

We are proud of our mother's part in the gifting of land for the Church of the Good Shepherd and we have always had the impression our mother was pleased to know her land was being used for the church. Certainly her contribution, along with other Murray family members, and Mr Peter Hope, has enabled this isolated and beautiful little church to be forever a place of prayer, a sacred space for the many who come to worship, or have come to visit from other parts of New Zealand and from overseas.

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