[4][5] The population is slowly increasing due to new subdivisions being developed there and in neighbouring Mandeville North.

Brown settled a farm in Canterbury on land owned by his brother in-law John Thomas Peacock, and named it after the Swannanoa River in Western North Carolina.

When Brown eventually returned to Asheville, North Carolina, he named his home there "Zealandia".

The land would remain in the Peacock family name until 1903, when it was sold to Vince William Wright.

[9] The church, which resides nearby to Swannanoa School, was opened in 1873, and was primarily funded by John Evans Brown.

By this stage, a plan for the Oxford-Rangiora branch line had already been approved by the Rangiora, Mandeville and Oxford Road Boards.

The Eyre settlers continued lobbying for a line to pass through Ohoka, Mandeville, Swannanoa and West Eyreton.

Eventually they prevailed and the government agreed to construct both lines, 10 km apart, which would become the Eyreton Branch.

After he had set one world record, Wright dismounted, and a Scottish immigrant, Bob Burns, attached a light sidecar to the Lightning.