This is a history from a historical sign put at Isla Bank - Calcium - Limestone Plains.
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ISLA BANK - CALCIUM - LIMESTONE PLAINS
Long ago in the mists of time the area known as Limestone Plains, Calcium or Isla Bank, lay under the sea. It would have been an area of hollows into which fell the bones of primitive fish species. Over millions of years the bone solidified and formed a limestone basin with surface outcrops along the Waimatuku River from Isla Bank to Ringway Ridges. Early surveyors in Southland recognised a limestone basin meant good natural drainage and reservoirs of water.
The first human visitor to Isla Bank would have seen vegetation covering of red tussock, rushes and grassland with some pockets of rimu and totara forest.
While there is no evidence of permanent Maori settlement in the Isla Bank area it is known that groups camped here when hunting birds and collecting eels from the Waimatuku River for food. To the east and west the Oreti and Aparima Rivers were popular routes into the greenstone collecting areas of Fiordland.
The Isla Bank district is named after the River Isla, tributary of the River Tay in a part of Scotland formerly known as Forfarshire. The first permanent settlers from Forfarshire and other parts of Scotland came to the district in the late 1860s and early 1870s. Some purchased their farms with money earned on the Central Otago goldfields.
The district, or parts of it, have had other names; Paulins' Bush, Limestone Plains and Calcium. The last two are named after the extensive limestone deposits in the area. Limestone Plains continues as the name of the parish area for the nearby church and Calcium as the name for the cemetery. Isla Bank first came into use as the name of the postal district.
Calcium Cemetery is the final resting place for many early settlers and later generations. The first recorded burial took place in 1891. Of the first ten entries in the register, six were children with unnamed babies identified by the father's name only.
The cemetery continues to be cared for by local trustees. A handsome memorial to the young men of the district who gave their lives in the World Wars was erected here by the people of Isla Bank and Otahuti.
The present St Cuthberts Presbyterian Church of the Limestone Plains Parish was built in 1929, replacing a wooden building on the same site.
This church is considered one of the finest examples of a traditional country church in Southland.
The Limestone Plains parish area was formed in 1879 and at one time stretched from Te Anau to Waimatuku. Reverend Robert Ewen led this parish for 21 years, travelling long distances by horseback, before his sudden death in 1900. He is buried in the Calcium Cemetery.
It is not for what they found,
When they came, decided to stay.
Nor the rich and rain blessed ground,
That we give thanks today;
Not for what our fathers sought,
Nor traditions of their race.
But the simple faith they brought,
Faith in God's exceeding grace
For this remembrance joins with praise.
Gods of our fathers, guide our ways.
~~ Rev. G. Renwick
Isla Bank School has changed its site three times and its name twice since 1873. The first school, known as Limestone Plains, was on the Fairfax/Isla Bank Road near Buckingham Road. In 1899 the school moved to a new location opposite the present school.
Following a fire in 1926 the school buildings were replaced and about this time became known as Isla Bank. In 1960 this building was shifted across the road and became part of an enlarged school which is what you see today. The architectural style was common in mid 20th Century New Zealand schools.
Isla Bank's first post office opened in 1874 at the residence of Thomas and Catherine Clark in Buckingham Road. Here incoming mail and stores were sorted and outgoing mail cancelled.
In 1883 the post office shifted to the Isla Bank crossroads. From 1909 a public telephone and telegram service run by the Stewart family operated from a small building attached to their family home. Postal facilities closed in 1937 and the telephone office in 1967.
Isla Bank Hall. The first building forming a hall and library under the name of the Calcium Mechanics Institute was built in 1883 on the flat area between St Cuthbert's Church and the school.
Over the years the hall was added to and altered. It served the district well for over 100 years as a venue for meetings, concerts, quadrilles, Benedict balls, Bachelor and Spinster balls, Stags and Hind parties, school productions, Spring flower shows, social activities, WDFF classes, euchre evenings, sports, dances, welcomes and farewells. The hall was also used as a school classroom, gymnasium and kindergarten. In 1997 it was declared unsafe and demolished.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Southland District Council
The Community Trust of Southland
Isla Bank Historical Research Group
John Husband
Otautau Lions Club
March 2002
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The New Zealand Geographic Placenames Database entry for Isla Bank - Calcium - Limestone Plains is here (
visit link) .