Fendalton Park opened in 1935 after the land was purchased from a Miss Kate Gerard. Growing proudly there, are 163 year old (as of 2013) Oaks, the Quercus Robus Acorns that were aboard the Charlotte Jane in 1850. Haven’t yet been able to find the source of the parent trees – maybe the Botanic Gardens …
Stephen, his brother James (pictured) and James’ wife, Harriet, arrived in Canterbury on the Charlotte Jane, the first of the first four ships in December 1850. When James married Harriet, her father brought the pair 100 acres of the new Canterbury settlement. Stephen followed suit by purchasing a further 100 acres neighbouring his brother’s land …
The first four ships in order of arrival: the Charlotte Jane, the Randolph, the Sir George Seymour and the Cressy. All four ships brought a total of 791 pilgrims to Canterbury in 1850. To rent a cabin for your journey, it would cost you £42. To travel intermediate class it would cost you £25 and …
Nihil stile quod non honestum – Nothing is useful that is not honest – The Press – www.press.co.nz motto.So true. The Press are onto something!I was completely ecstatic to see this in the foyer of the new Press Building on Gloucester Street.This pillar displays the very first edition of The Press, dated 25th May 1861. …
Earthquakes truly don’t play nice with old graveyards! The side of the column that is facing downward is in the memory of William Rising Taylor who was a passenger on the Charlotte Jane – the first of the first four ships to arrive at Lyttelton in 1850. He was in the company of his parents …
Our First Four Ships carried more than just settlers; they brought books, teachers, chaplains and church bells. The bell from the Charlotte Jane eventually found its home at St Michael and all Angels on Oxford Terrace.In 1851, a gathering of the Anglican settlers began on the church site in a V hut. This simple place …
Maybe it had been the tedious bumpy ROADLESS journey over the sea of tussock – from Hawkins (a stone’s throw from Darfield) to Rolleston – that made the farmhand lower the new plough down to harvesting position before he towed it back to Bangor in which he worked. He had been sent out hours before …
Benjamin Woolfield Mountfort (1825 – 1898) Died of old age Place of Death: Christchurch Benjamin was the first official Provincial Architect, designing buildings such as the Canterbury Museum, Arts Centre, Christchurch Cathedral, Addington Prison, St Peter’s Anglican Church of Papanui. Buried in the Holy Trinity of Avonside Church Cemetery, Christchurch The story of Benjamin …
Benjamin Woolfield Mountfort stepped off the Charlotte Jane – full of ambition and cathedral-sized dreams! Born in Birmingham, England, the young Benjamin moved to London and studied architecture. Finishing his studies in 1848, he rolled up his sleeves and practised his new trade right there in London. With Emily, his wife of 18 days, his …
The names of Rhodes and Barker, for Canterbury historians and alike, represent a delicious smorgasbord of old photos, journals, homesteads, memorials and real-life colourful characters who made the swamps and Toi Toi of Canterbury their home. The Rhodes Brothers – William, George and Robert – had settled on Banks Peninsula – from Akaroa in the …
