Page:Ashburton•Scotter•1972.pdf/393

Julius Haast arrived in Christchurch in mid-February 1861 to take up his appointment as provincial geologist—the first permanent appointment of a scientist in New Zealand. Haast, aged thirty-eight, was a German born in Bonn, who had arrived in New Zealand just over two years before to report on the suitability of the country for German emigration.

Within a few days of his arrival in Christchurch, Haast set off to explore the western mountains probably sharing the high hopes of the Provincial Council of the discovery of gold and other minerals. From 20 February until returning to Christchurch on 5 June he investigated the basins of the Ashburton and Rangitata rivers following both rivers and their tributaries back to their sources. For his work along the Rangitata he chose as his base Samuel Butler’s hut on Mesopotamia which Butler had taken up the year before. (Haast was accompanied by Dr Andrew Sinclair, surgeon and, from 1844 to 1856, New Zealand Colonial Secretary, who studied the botany of the region and made collections of specimens. Unfortunately, on 28 March, Sinclair decided to return to Mesopotamia and was drowned while crossing the Rangitata.)

Haast discovered important fossils along the tributaries of the