53 Facts About Ebenezer Teichelmann

Ebenezer Teichelmann, known as 'the little Doctor' to his friends, was an Australian-born surgeon, mountaineer, explorer, conservationist and photographer in New Zealand.

Ebenezer Teichelmann was a survivor of the sinking of the SS Marquette in 1915.

Ebenezer Teichelmann achieved 26 first ascents of mountains and seven first ascents, or crossings, of passes, cols, or saddles, and is credited with reviving climbing in New Zealand when the sport was almost dead.

Ebenezer Teichelmann's photographs were used in books and advertisements, and helped to achieve conservation status for West Coast reserves.

In 1882, Ebenezer Teichelmann travelled to Queen's College, Birmingham and demonstrated physiology at Mason Science College.

Ebenezer Teichelmann undertook postgraduate study in Dublin, specialising in surgery, and at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London.

Ebenezer Teichelmann had become a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, a Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and an Associate of the Mason Science College in Birmingham.

On his return Ebenezer Teichelmann took up the post of health officer at Port Adelaide.

Ebenezer Teichelmann worked for five years in Adelaide, during which he was a Surgeon Lieutenant and then Surgeon Captain for the South Australian military, and was locum tenens for Professor Edward Stirling, professor of physiology at Adelaide University, while he was on leave in England.

Ebenezer Teichelmann successfully applied for the position of Surgical Superintendent of the Westland District Hospital, in Hokitika on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand.

Ebenezer Teichelmann operated private consulting rooms and a small nursing and convalescent hospital at his Hamilton Street residence, staffed by an onsite housekeeper and a nurse.

Ebenezer Teichelmann was ably assisted for many years both in his private practice and at the hospital by nurse Bess Hudson.

Ebenezer Teichelmann's responsibilities required him to travel at all hours of the day or night in what was a remote and rugged area, often with little more than a track to follow, and where few rivers were bridged.

The year Ebenezer Teichelmann arrived, he treated several people for smoke inhalation and burns after fire destroyed eight buildings on Revell Street, including the Golden Age Hotel, and the Hokitika Guardian and Evening Star newspaper offices and archives.

Mary Ebenezer Teichelmann became known as an emancipated woman and a trendsetter, and was the first woman in the town to smoke in public, play golf, and one of the first to drive a car.

In 1912, Ebenezer Teichelmann requested a leave of absence from his post to update his medical skills, citing the isolation of his position, and New Zealand as a whole, as a motivating factor.

Ebenezer Teichelmann planned to spend seven or eight months observing doctors in major hospitals in Europe, before a holiday in the Swiss Alps.

Ebenezer Teichelmann travelled to Europe, spending time in Birmingham, Edinburgh, Vienna, Dresden, Leipzig and Paris, as well as period climbing in Zermatt, and attending the sixth International Gynecological and Obstetric Congress in Berlin.

Ebenezer Teichelmann was a Surgeon Major in the New Zealand Medical Corps with the 13th Canterbury Regiment since 1907, and he expected to serve but was not initially called up, possibly because of his German name or his age.

Ebenezer Teichelmann wrote to the British War Office and to James Allen, the New Zealand Defence Minister, requesting to be allowed to do his duty, and was eventually called up to the Medical Corps on 25 August 1915, and assigned to the Sixth Reinforcements.

Ebenezer Teichelmann sailed in September 1915 and joined the No 1 Stationary Hospital in Port Said Egypt on 9 October 1915.

Ebenezer Teichelmann boarded the troopship SS Marquette in Alexandria along with other medical personnel from the hospital, including a contingent of 36 New Zealand nurses, and the Ammunition Column of the British 29th Division.

Ebenezer Teichelmann spent several hours in the water but was eventually rescued.

In March 1916, the Stationary Hospital was relocated back to Port Said, and then in July of that year Ebenezer Teichelmann was attached to the 2nd General Hospital based in Le Havre, France.

Ebenezer Teichelmann is a British Subject, and the Council of which he was a member deeply resents the action of the member for Grey Lynn in bringing Dr Teichelmann's name before the House in the list of German suspects and regards his action as an insufferable insult to the town and district.

Ebenezer Teichelmann served at the Hornchurch Convalescent Hospital and the Codford Depot on Salisbury Plain, before returning to New Zealand as surgeon aboard the hospital ship SS Maheno, arriving in December 1916.

Macandrew had been medical officer at the Seaview Asylum and Ebenezer Teichelmann took over this role from 1916 to 1921.

Between 1899 and 1924, Ebenezer Teichelmann recorded 26 first ascents of mountains and seven first ascents, or crossings, of passes, cols, or saddles.

Ebenezer Teichelmann is credited with keeping climbing in New Zealand going during a period when the New Zealand Alpine Club was in abeyance.

In 1899, Ebenezer Teichelmann went into partnership with brothers Charles and Harold Stoner, and Mr Lee, backing brothers Alec and Peter Graham look for gold in the Callery area.

Ebenezer Teichelmann benefited from advice from surveyors and explorers George John Roberts and Charlie Douglas, who he visited often and was responsible for the medical care of in the last years of their lives.

When Newton, Alec Graham and Ebenezer Teichelmann made the first ascent of Douglas Peak in 1907, they took Ebenezer Teichelmann's full-plate camera and Newton's Sanderson, carrying more than 25 kilograms of camera equipment between them.

Newton reports that Ebenezer Teichelmann's companions loathed his heavy camera equipment when it was time to 'swag' in or out of a climb, but that they were always keen to see the photographs that resulted.

Ebenezer Teichelmann was known to shelter his camera before himself if there was not space for both.

Ebenezer Teichelmann regularly climbed with Canon Henry E Newton and Alex Graham.

Ebenezer Teichelmann was a keen mountaineer, having climbed in the Lake District and spent five seasons in the European Alps.

Ebenezer Teichelmann's was the first traverse of the Victoria range, and the first crossings of Baker Saddle and Harper Saddle.

In 1903, Ebenezer Teichelmann was elected member of the London Alpine Society.

Ebenezer Teichelmann was elected President of the New Zealand Alpine Club in 1936, and was awarded Life Membership in 1937.

Ebenezer Teichelmann built up an extensive collection of photographs of New Zealand scenery, and made a point of taking as near complete panoramic views as possible, which was of assistance to mappers of the area.

Ebenezer Teichelmann spent time with Longden in Mount Cook before leaving for Christchurch to see the exhibition.

Ebenezer Teichelmann had many photographs exhibited of New Zealand scenery and was keen to see the display.

Ebenezer Teichelmann later gave her permission to use several of his photographs in her 1915 autobiography The Conquest of Mount Cook and other climbs.

Ebenezer Teichelmann had a collection of glass lantern slides that he was able to use to lecture about the Westland scenery, and left them behind for Tourist Department officials to show, with newspapers appreciating him as an unofficial ambassador for the region.

Ebenezer Teichelmann's photographs had heightened public awareness of the scenery in Westland, and were instrumental in achieving scenic reserve status for Lake Kaniere in 1911, Punakaiki, Arthur's Pass, and the four Glacial Scenic Reserves of the Westland Tai Poutini National Park.

Ebenezer Teichelmann was interested in botany, and struck up a friendship with botanist Leonard Cockayne.

Arthur's Pass National Park was formed in 1929, and Ebenezer Teichelmann was a member of the first control board for the park.

Ebenezer Teichelmann wrote to Newton on 3 December in 1938, expressing his intention to visit England the following summer, but died on 20 December 1938 in Hokitika, aged 79.

Ebenezer Teichelmann is buried with his wife, Mary in Hokitika Cemetery.

Around 1920 Ebenezer Teichelmann moved to a new house on the corner of Hampden and Jollie Streets, but continued to consult at his Hamilton Street rooms.

In 2000 a memorial stone bench and sculpture were erected opposite the house, beside the Carnegie Building that Ebenezer Teichelmann helped secure the funds for.

Mount Teichelmann, Teichelmann Peak, Teichelmann Rock, Teichelmann Creek, Teichelmann's Corner, Teichelmann's Track, and Ebenezer Peak are all named after Teichelmann.

The First Crossings television series included an episode recreating Ebenezer Teichelmann's crossing of the 'fearsome' Cook River Gorge in 1905.