Asher Smith may not have been given the same recognition as early pioneers Charles Hedditch, Theodore Russell or Robert McDougall in Wanaka’s early history, but his expertise in ship building and contribution to Wanaka’s early transportation services was certainly well known.

His reputation and the respect he earned was such that when he died in Queenstown, William Monteith, a well-known local Pembroke storekeeper, brought Asher’s body back to Pembroke and he was buried in a grave in the Pembroke (Wanaka) Cemetery. 

Upper Clutha Historical Records Society (UCHRS) treasurer and newsletter editor Ken Allan came across the little known Asher Smith when researching stories of some of Wanaka’s better known early pioneers.

Ken felt Asher deserved his moment in the spotlight and featured Asher in the latest Summer 2020 edition of the UCHRS newsletter ‘Those Were The Days’. Ken has graciously permitted the Wanaka App to reprint excerpts from his article.

Asher Smith: shipwright

Asher Smith fell ill in 1899 and he was at the Frankton Hospital when he died, aged 65. It was raining the day he was buried, but the service was well attended by a large number of local residents and was conducted by a Mr Smith, a retired Wesleyan clergyman from Queenstown.

Paddle-steamer ‘Theodore’, named after Theodore Russell.

Asher, apparently known sometimes as George (his grandfather’s name), is another of those early pioneers who perhaps have not been given the recognition they are due as the years have passed by. 

He left no family behind to carry on his name, nor any huge land and business assets. He did, however, contribute a large amount of his energy and time in helping develop the future Upper Clutha. 

We know very little of Asher, the man, but I have discovered that he was born in New York, USA in 1834. He was the seventh child of Richard Smith (b.1797) and Elizabeth Davis. They had 10 children all told. In 1850, Asher was living with his parents and siblings in Brooklyn. His father was listed as a machinist and owned property valued at US$2,000, a not inconsiderable sum in those days. 

Asher had left school and was employed as a ‘Ship Builder’. That is the last record I can find of him in the USA. In one New Zealand newspaper, it was reported that he had married in the USA and he had a son named Richard, but I have found no evidence of this, nor has his living relatives. Nor have I found evidence of the 90 slaves his father was supposed to have owned – very unlikely given my research! 

Circa 1896 Asher Smith (third from left) constructed the ‘Makarora’ with the help of its owner William Allan (right).

It is not known when he arrived in New Zealand though a living relative in the US stated he first went to Australia before coming to New Zealand. 

His name was first reported locally in August 1863 as a builder working on the Wakatipu Hospital at Frankton and there is evidence that he lived in a cottage in central Queenstown.

In 1867 Theodore Russell and Charles Hedditch needed a skilled builder to erect the Wanaka Hotel but unable to find anyone suitable in Pembroke they searched further afield and came across Asher Smith.

Making way on Lake Wānaka, Steamship ‘Makarora’ was a fine looking vessel.

Asher moved permanently to Pembroke and newspaper cuttings from 1880 and 1881 suggest that Charles Hedditch and Asher joined forces to create a ship that would be designed and built by Asher. 

Asher designed a paddle-steamer with a relatively flat-bottomed hull. It was 67 feet in length and with a 16-foot beam and had four berths. The wood for the construction was all obtained by Asher from near the mouth of the Matukituki River where its construction took place. During this time, Asher lived in a nearby hut. 

On 9 March 1881 Florence Hedditch launched the vessel, naming it the ‘Theodore’. However, it had neither engines nor boiler initially. It was towed to Pembroke and there it stayed moored until the machinery finally arrived from England and was installed. 

The paddlesteamer’s maiden public voyage took place on 16 August 1883, nearly two and a half years after its launch. I suspect that lack of finance was the principal cause of the delay, something that continued to haunt the operation of the ‘Theodore’ until it ceased operations on Lake Wānaka about 1905. 

Asher’s next major project was the steamship ‘SS Makarora’ which was owned by William Allan, who was also an important early pioneer of Pembroke. 

The building of the ‘Makarora’ started about 1894/5 but Asher never saw the fine looking steamship completed and launched in 1901. 

Asher fell ill in 1899 and died intestate. His estate at the time was valued at £12-15-0. Asher’s grave was unmarked and, after a fire in the 1940s destroyed grave records, the location of his grave is now a mystery.