Nelson is widely recognised as one of the sunniest spots in New Zealand, but back in the late 1850s, parts of it became very, very cold. This news was greeted with delight by thirsty Nelsonians as it signalled the arrival of ice. Up until then, frozen water had not been a feature in New Zealand’s hotels and stores but with ice coming to Nelson, everything changed.
In January of 1959, newspaper advertisements in the Nelson Examiner promoted iced lemonade at the Star and Garter Hotel in Richmond, while a continual supply had been promised for James Bentley, of Bridge Street, in Nelson. This shipment came from Australia, and it is the sunburnt country we have to thank for making our drinks colder, and much more besides.
American miners arrived in the Australian state of Victoria during the 1851 gold rush and with them, they brought a taste for ice in their cocktails and other drinks. This demand for ice followed them to New Zealand after gold was discovered at Collingwood in 1857. Even though the South Island’s glaciers were made of ice, transporting it overland was impractical. So, the initial demand for ice in both countries was met by James Harrison, a pioneering refrigeration engineer. In 1859, his Melbourne plant was capable of producing 10 tons of ice a day. Once demand was met in Australia, New Zealand appealed as a lucrative export market.
The first consignment of New Zealand-bound ice left Melbourne on the ship London in well-insulated cases and arrived in Sydney four days later. Most of the cases were offloaded for consumption in New South Wales but one case was loaded on the 580-ton, 100-horsepower steamship Lord Worsley. The Lord Worsley left Sydney on 15 January and arrived in Nelson six days later. The day after its arrival, iced drinks were available for sale in Nelson and Richmond.
Imports of ice into New Zealand were relatively short-lived. It wasn’t long before machinery was developed to manufacture ice on demand in this country. But while ice machines met New Zealand’s growing demand for ice, the technology that was needed to ship ice over long distances had several positive offshoots. For example, it helped create the frozen meat trade and brought the first trout ova to New Zealand. Meanwhile, the insulation used in ships to import ice was an ancestor of the house insulation we use today. That first shipment of ice changed our country in more ways than we might know, and it made sunny Nelson the coolest spot in New Zealand by a matter of degrees.
