“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 at the bottom of a shallow bay, lay snugly ensconced the pretty town of Lyttelton. We can scarcely imagine a more picturesque spot for a town. Its beauty caused an involuntary shout of delights from all our passengers. Erskine Bay [Lyttelton] is a shallow indentation on the north side of Port Cooper and on the hillside at the bottom of the bay the town is built; two streets running straight up the hill from the beach, which are crossed by others at right angles. On the right, surrounded by palings, are a number of neat-looking buildings which are the emigration barracks, and close by is the Mr. Godley house”.
Dr. A.C. Barker ~ 1850
* Christchurch’s first doctor*
* Pioneer Photographer – sketched and photographed many of Canterbury’s earliest images*
His recollections of his arrival in Lyttelton aboard the ‘Charlotte Jane”
*image of Dr. A.C. Barker courtesy of http://cantage.wordpress.com*
