Colonial Canterbury is characterised by its association with New Zealand’s wool industry in its earliest days, and the wealth that grew from this industry is the foundation upon which modern Canterbury has built its sense of identity. Sheep farms in Canterbury predate even the arrival of the Canterbury Association in the region, as in the 1840s a few dozen Europeans leasing land directly from Ngai Tahu established farms and sheep runs on Banks Peninsula and around what would become Christchurch. After organised settlement began following the establishment of Christchurch in 1850, European settlers established hundreds of farms across the region, kickstarting an agricultural and pastoral industry that has persisted to this day. The economic networks that facilitated the establishment of this industry had many levels, encompassing everything from the roads and railways that linked the interior of the region to the ports, to the agents who organised the shipping, insurance and sale of wool in London.

By supplementing the array of scholarship in existence with a selection of primary material, this thesis will seek to show how the varied facets of colonial Canterbury’s economy were connected to the demands and influences of the wider Imperial economy within which it was set. This thesis does not attempt to explain specific methods by which Cantabrian colonial industries were organised and run, nor does it try to determine how successful these industries were in creating wealth for individuals. Rather, this paper seeks to link together many disparate aspects of the economy that acted to facilitate the continued expansion of the colony, the steady flow of produce out of it into the imperial market, and the supply of necessary supplies from the Imperial centre to the colonial periphery. Particular attention will be given to the impact various parts of the network had on influencing each other, Detailing how the demand for raw materials to fuel the Industrial Revolution kickstarted the expansion of sheep farming to Australasia, which in turn demanded infrastructure to move wool out of the colony, and finally how stock agents and finance supplied the necessary capital to have made the development of Canterbury possible.