Shanks at Mount Peel

Descendants of Jessie Roberta Hodges (nee Shanks) will recall that Jessie was born at Mount Peel Station on 14 September 1896.  Mount Peel is located 30kms north of the inland South Canterbury town of Geraldine.

Below is a recent photo taken at Scotsburn Road, near Peel Forest.  The photo looks north towards the summit of Mount Peel.  Overlaid on the image is a photo taken during the 1890s, understood to be of Robert Johnston Morrow Shanks, Jessie’s father.

Note the ridge-lines in both photos appear to be identical.  This suggests the photo of Robert was taken at or near the same location, at the northwestern end of Scotsburn Road.

Other photos of Mount Peel Station and nearby Peel Forest, taken in September 2016, are reproduced below.  These help to show the character of the environment where Jessie Hodges spent the first few days of her life and where her birth parents, Robert Shanks and Jessie Whetton, lived and worked.

For more information on the life of Jessie Hodges, her descendants and other family, friends and associates, click on the links below:

Jessie Roberta Hodges (nee Shanks): The Early Years – Jessie talks about growing up in Dunedin, her first job at the Kapai photo studio, and meeting her future husband, Alfred George Hodges.

Binning Benjamin Whetton (1846–1924) was Jessie Hodges’ maternal grandfather. Read about his life and family here.

Who was Dorothy Miles?  Find out how Dorothy Miles is related to Jessie Hodges and the wider Dunedin Hodges family; and what happened to her.

Harold Hodges / Agnes Haig wedding reception photos, 6 November 1954.  View more than 60 newly discovered photos of Hodges, Shanks, Haig and MacCallum family members and friends who attended this event.

Dora’s Ninetieth – The Speeches – On the last Sunday of December, 2012, a family party was held at the Harding’s farm to celebrate Dora David’s (nee Hodges) ninetieth birthday.  Click here to see some of the amusing birthday speeches given by family members in honour of Dora.

Elsie Blythe (nee Hodges) – Early Memories – Elsie talks about growing up in Dunedin, her childhood interests, schooling and work, and why she eventually moved to Wellington.

Photos of the Week: Descendants of Alfred and Jessie Hodges have been emailing ‘photos of the week’ to each other irregularly since 2009.  A selection of 40 of these family photos are shown here.

Mid-twentieth century Dunedin: Courtesy of the Dunedin City Council, view photos of the city and suburbs taken in the 1960s and 70s.