The racket and stink of hundreds of livestock rambling down Yaldhurst Road would make those who lived close by stay inside! Cattle, sheep, and even pigs headed down to the Addington Stockyards on Deans Ave like this for decades – causing such a trying time for residents that the Riccarton Road Board was formed mainly …
There is very little about the earliest days of Scarborough or who named it as such. What follows is the puzzle I have put together with the few clues left me. George Rhodes arrived at Lyttelton Harbour in 1843 to become an overseer and partner of his elder brother – William Barnard Rhodes – who …
“Captain Thomas [Canterbury Association’s Chief Surveyor] has fixed on this place as the site of the Canterbury settlement. He goes to Port Nicholson [Wellington] in a few days to forward his report to the Association and make arrangements for proceeding with the survey. The river up which we now bring our supplies is to be …
As a teenager, Charles Bowen found himself rubbing shoulders with worldly wisdom and business knowledge in the shape of John Robert Godley, James Edward Fitzgerald and Lord Lyttelton. He was a budding Irish law student absorbing all he could amongst the upper class ranks of the Canterbury Association in which he had taken a keen …
“It is a far cry from the ancient cathedral cities of the Old Land, hoary with years and traditions, to a busy Colonial town, raised in little more than half a century, in the midst of a tussock-covered plain. Yet, as the years roll by, something, perchance, of the stately repose of Salisbury, or of …
When Mrs. Maria Sophia Pope opened her shop on Colombo Street in 1862, the street that ran along the front of her door was nothing more than a muddy runty track that would fill with water every time it rained. But I’m sure on those fine Christchurch days; Maria would take a breather on her …
I don’t know about you guys but growing up in Christchurch, the odd substation was an accepted part of every suburb. The ones in Harewood and Bishopdale had M.E.D on them above the doors and I never really understood what these little square buildings really did. During a history hunt, Chris and I were poking …
Gebbies Valley and Pass were known during the 1830’s as ‘Maori Valley” by the Rhodes brothers of Purau as it was a busy trail that the Maori used when heading south. The Maori called it Kawa Taua. Captain Fredrick Tuckett used the trail on the 4th June 1844. He was inspecting the Peninsula and the …
“The road round the foot of the hills, and from Christchurch, was little better than a track with large holes here and large boulder stones there, in the middle of the road. The Ferry Road was not much more than wide enough for one carriage at a time, with deep ditches on both sides. From …
The term ‘Triangle Corner’ first appears in The Lyttelton Times in August 1864. There appears to be no recorded history of how the name came in to being but it is quite obvious how this junction of Colombo, Cashel and High Streets became known as such. These three roads made a triangle. When the Triangle …
