On the 27th March 1848, the day the Canterbury Association was founded, the dream that was to become Christchurch was born. Although at the time, the Port Cooper (Canterbury) Plains was just one of the options, by the month of December, it was almost a certainty. All throughout 1848, Canterbury Association surveyors began to replace …
With Whitcoulls celebrating their 130th birthday at the moment, I figured it was about time I take a closer look at this Christchurch-founded New Zealand icon! Rather late really as my first ever job was at the Bishopdale branch back in 1994. It was a dream come true as it was my favourite shop in …
William Chisnall and his wife Sarah (some records say Steadman) arrived in Lyttelton a few months before the First Four Ships. As William was a carpenter, he had been employed by the Canterbury Association to help ready the Port for the new settlers. Aboard the ‘Randolph’ was William Derisley (W.D) Wood, Chisnall’s brother-in-law. Together in …
I’m sure as William Horner (1832 – 1905) walked down Papanui Road to work, he would glance over towards St Paul’s Anglican Church and dream – his destiny was very much laid out before him in Papanui. William and his wife Mary Proctor arrived in Lyttelton in 1859. They first settled there – where William …
Like many other people I am guessing, I have always viewed the south entrance of the Northlands Mall with a bemused question. The mismatched ironwork art piece that adorns the entrance into the mall makes no sense, it didn’t go with the rest of the building. What the…??? The other day, I found myself standing …
Towards the end of the 1970’s, the then waste land that sat south of the Bridge of Remembrance, at the junction of Oxford, Cambridge Terraces and Lichfield Street was a hot topic at the Christchurch City Council. Something needed to be done with it. Even the public were asked for ideas of what to do …
For the Maori, the two rivers that weave throughout the city of Christchurch were not only a food source and a way to travel but the river was a passageway for spirits to move, bringing healing and blessings. The Maori name for the Heathcote River is ‘Opawaho’ and was also the name of the little …
What a grand moment it would have been for the Canterbury Provincial Council to have opened New Zealand’s first Railway Workshops. The year was 1863 and what an achievement for Christchurch! These humble beginnings were replaced in 1879 and were known as the Addington Railway Workshops. In its Hey Day, 2000 men were employed there …
“The entrance to Port Cooper [Lyttelton] is very grand. As we sailed slowly up it, we saw high on the cliffs to our right, the workmen making a road [Sumner Road] to the plains, an undertaking, alas, far too great for our infant colony. Just at the moment we passed a little headland, and there …
