The Wellington alpacas

You’re on a walk through the bush in Wellington. You’ve seen a tūī, a kererū and can hear the song of other native birds.
You take a turn on the track and come face to face with a herd of the local wild alpaca.
It won’t happen now but there was a time when the Wellington Provincial Council intended for alpaca to roam the hills of Wellington.
Alpacas were introduced to New Zealand in the 19th century.
There was good evidence that alpacas could thrive here and there was a lot of talk about it. They were highly prized for their wool - however difficult to shear.
In 1863, there was notice that 15 were coming to Canterbury and in 1864 news that 12 were supposed to come to Wellington.
In the end, 10 were first imported in 1865 by the Wellington Provincial Government who bought them from Charles Ledger in Australia for 15 pounds each but they couldn’t make it work and suffered heavy financial loss because of it.
By the end of the year there were problems - the alpaca were suffering from something and there were several theories - including that they suffered from a form of leprosy, or was there something wrong with their teeth which could affect their ability to eat.
They ended up selling five of them to William Barnard Rhodes in 1869
They turned out to be easier to look at than to handle,
He said at shearing time they were “exceedingly troublesome” especially their spitting with which they displayed “considerable range and accuracy.”
That must have been a bit of a shock to shearers used to sheep.
The other five apparently went to Auckland but what happened to them no one seems to have recorded.
It was not for another 100 years that alpacas and llamas came into New Zealand to be farmed commercially.
Rhodes had been born on May 9, 1807, to William and Theodosia Maria in Epworth, Lincolnshire, England.
He came to New Zealand in 1839 and began acquiring land and at one point was called the richest man in the country.
Rhodes died on February 11, 1878 and is buried in Bolton St Cemetery.
Photo by Paul Summers.​