Hewlings, Samuel, 1819-1896

Surveyor. Born Wallingford, Berkshire, England. Came to NZ in 1841 and assisted in the surveys at Auckland and the Bay of Islands. In 1849 he undertook contract surveys for the commencement of the Canterbury settlement. In 1854 he accepted a position on the survey staff of the Canterbury Provincial Government and was responsible for the triangulation and topographical surveys of South Canterbury. He laid out the township of Geraldine. In 1856 he laid out the southern part of the town of Timaru on Crown land while E H Lough laid out the northern part on land owned by the Rhodes brothers. In 1858 Hewlings resigned from the Government service to join Edward Jollie in partnership as contract surveyors for the Provincial Government. In 1863 they laid out the town of Arowhenua (later remaned Temuka).In 1861 surveys were continued from Pareora to the Orari River. The work was undertaken by Hewlings assisted by Charles R Shaw and Robert Townsend. Hewlings made his headquarters Timaru where he took a leading part in the development of the town. He became the first mayor when the Borough was incorporated. Hewlings succeeded Thonas Cass as Chief Surveyor for Canterbury in Sep 1871 and retired from the Government service at the end of 1876. He died in Christchurch in 1896. [Source: C A Lawn. The Pioneer land surveyors of NZ. qMS-1138; see also Janet Holm. Caught mapping: the life and times of New Zealand's early surveyors (Christchurch, Hazard Press, 2005)]