“There was a simplicity, a freshness and a raciness about those early times, notwithstanding some discomfort, that made life far more enjoyable then than it is now, or ever will be again. The difference is mainly this, that in those days our life was simple and unpretentious. Now it is for the most part absurdly pretentious. In those days we were away in remote and beautiful country unknown to, and unnoticed by the great world”.
Professor G.S. Sale ~ 8th March 1897
G.S. Sale arrived at Lyttelton in the mid 1850’s where he became firm friends with William Rolleston (our 4th Superintendent) and Samuel Butler (world famous author and whose station is pictured here) who all began their New Zealand lives as sheep station owners in the high country of the Canterbury Plains.
Sale also dabbled in journalism and took on the position of administrator of the goldfields with the Westlands Provincial Government in the 1860’s. It was here that he earned the name of ‘King Sale’ as his way was law in the gold fields. If anyone opposed him or caused trouble, Sale had no problem using his fists to solve the problem. Sale’s last post in life was as the professor of classics at Otago University.
*Image courtesy of http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz*
