Over 700 settlers flooded into Lyttelton between the 16th and the 27th of December 1850 from our First Four Ships. Although many public works had occurred to get the port as ready as it could be, the new immigration barracks would in no way be able to house everybody. It was so bad, some took …
The 50 acres that Captain Harvey took up on the Port Hills in 1852 was considered one of Christchurch’s most beautiful spots. Heavy lush woodlands swept up the nearby valley and like most men of the new settlement, the Captain looked over his new source of timber with dollar signs in his eyes. He named …
Jane Manson was the wife of John Manson, son of Samuel and Jean Manson who had accompanied William Deans to New Zealand from Scotland in 1840. After two years as employees of the Deans brothers at Riccarton (the first 3 years were in Wellington), the Mansons and another family named the Gebbies, moved onto their …
The first time I read about the Hart family, my imagination was stirred! Here was this family fresh off the ‘Cressy’ struggling through the tussock of the Canterbury Plains (after tramping over the Bridle Path and punting across the Heathcote), squinting into the blazing setting sun. They stop for breath, the father looking at his …
Easily the roaring life of Cashel Mall during the 1980’s; in this new century I struggled to even picture it along Cashel Mall before the quakes stole it away for good. The Shades Arcade. It was purchased for 5 million dollars in 2009 by a developer who claimed his memories as a kid in the …
From 1851 Dr. A.C. Barker had always had problems with others concerning his plot of land on the corner of Cathedral Square, where the former Government Life Building is awaiting to be demolished today. Nicknamed the ugliest building in Christchurch, it has never the less – since the 1960’s – cast its shadow over the …
After reading about Sir William Fox and getting the idea that he tended to go where the wind took him, I can’t ignore the fact that today, we do not have a clear idea of what William was really like. The descriptions of his personality and values go from one side of the scales to …
Charlotte Godley (wife of Christchurch’s founder John Robert Godley) didn’t miss a thing. During her short time in New Zealand, she observed and met some of the very early colourful characters of Canterbury. None escaped the fury of her pen when she wrote letters home to her mother in England. Mr. Mark Pringle Stoddard was …
Those walking or travelling down Riccarton Road – known as Harewood Road in them days – during 1851 or thereabouts, I’m sure would have slowed their step and craned their neck in wonder at what was rising out of the Shands Estate. What was that crazy John Shand up too? Is that a tower? Widower …
