Prior to European settlement, the Waimakariri River was an unconstrained braided river which had split into two main channels in the lower reaches forming a number of islands about five miles from the coast.

Donald Coutts, an early Kaiapoi Island settler, set up one of Canterbury’s earliest flour mills at the south end of Kaiapoi Island. Coutts dug a race to bring water from the north branch into the small stream. It was a dangerous plan and the race was widened in 1868 by a great flood, creating Coutts Island.

Coutts Island had its own post office and a public school. The 1872 school building has been preserved at Ferrymead Historic Park. Upstream of Coutts Island was Templars Island, named after Edward Merson Templer, an Englishman who immigrated here via Australia with his older brother John Arthur Templer. They sold their Australian properties and arrived in Canterbury with sheep in 1851.

Destinations within Templars Island include ‘Pearce’s Spring’ which is named after the Pearce family who farmed at Coutts Island for a number of generations. Whites Crossing Picnic Ground is located near where the old Whites Bridge crossed the South Branch and Bailes Island Picnic Ground is named after a small island located adjacent to Templars Island.