On 11th July 1879, the Government Building – now known to most of us as the old chief Post Office – was officially opened in Cathedral Square. In 1881, the building hosted New Zealand’s first Telephone Exchange. As early as 1863, the Canterbury Provincial Council had seen the need of Christchurch replacing Lyttelton as the …
In 1881, one of Christchurch’s oldest trees, a Tasmanian Blue Gum (eucalypts globules), was planted at what is now recorded down as 314 Yaldhurst Road. It is 40 metres tall. This beauty of a landmark has not only survived earthquakes and record-breaking storms but decades of changing tides also known as progress. The Tasmanian Blue …
Henry Rouse (aka Henry Beresford Garrett) is regarded as New Zealand’s first bushranger – and has been described as our very own Ned Kelly. If his fellow Lyttelton Gaol inmates knew anything of him or his past, they may have been surprised when they actually saw him in person. Nicknamed years before as ‘Long Henry’, …
