“Mr [Arthur Dudley] Dobson (pictured) was a familiar figure in the streets of Christchurch till well on into my years and days. I often met him coming along Chancery Lane or Gloucester Street. He wore a roomy grey top-hat, and usually held a key at the end of a piece of red tape in his …
We all know Cave Rock (was once known as Cass Rock, named after Thomas Cass, a surveyor)very well; is there a Cantab out there who hasn’t climbed up its south side to look down over Sumner Beach? BUT who really noticed the smaller rock formation to its right? I know of it, I can picture …
“He was second to none of New Zealand’s public men in learning, knowledge of literature, and administrative capacity…he showed the same soundness of judgement as in every office which he filled in the [Canterbury] Provincial Council, in the General Assembly, and in the Senate of the University, apparently without effort and with no superficial display. …
As the ‘Charlotte Jane’, the Canterbury’s Association first ship sailed into Lyttelton Harbour on the morning of the 16th December 1850, another ship – named the ‘Fly’ – sat at anchor at the head of the harbour belonging to the New Zealand Governor, Sir George Grey. He, like John Robert Godley – the Founder of …
“There was a simplicity, a freshness and a raciness about those early times, notwithstanding some discomfort, that made life far more enjoyable then than it is now, or ever will be again. The difference is mainly this, that in those days our life was simple and unpretentious. Now it is for the most part absurdly …
“It is ill-suited for any but the young, strong and active. I could make you cry with the recital of the various shifts and difficulties that colonists have to encounter”. Georgiana Bowen (1810 – ? ) ~ 12th March 1851 Georgiana arrived in Canterbury with her husband, her children, Charles, Croisdale, Letitia and her sister-in-law …
On the 22nd November 1867, a city meeting took place at Christchurch’s Town Hall concerning the ‘…too bold and brazen…’ and ‘…professionally quite openly…’ attitude of Christchurch’s fallen sisters of the night. No women were in attendance. Even before the arrival of the First Four Ships, prostitutes were known to frequent Lyttelton. With the jump …
On the 11th January 1851, the first issue of The Lyttelton Times hit the shelves. As the Canterbury Association made their plans for New Zealand’s newest Church of England (Anglican) settlement, they spoke of a grand Cathedral and college being at its heart with a good number of public domains for recreation and oh yes, …
