…Done More For Colonization… – John Robert Godley

“I have been an active promoter of the Canterbury Association, and I now stand here to defend it on this ground alone, that is better than the Government.  For 12 years….Sir George Grey [the Governor of New Zealand and pictured here in 1861] and his predecessors have had nearly the whole of New Zealand under …

The Aspirations of Godley’s Time – Sir Charles Bowen

“I know you will be angry with my talking in this way of Canterbury.  But if your Lordship were to land, I fear that, while you admired the material progress if the Settlement, you would share the heart-sickness  of those who remember the aspirations of Mr [John Robert] Godley’s time and who have learned that …

Purity, Piety, Philanthropy, Truth – John Robert Godley

“Mr [John Robert] Godley whom I remember as a boy at school thoroughly respected by all his schoolfellows, seems early in life to have been taught by the Tractarian movement at Oxford that the religion of a community should be its most important consideration…his letters have recently been published…and no volume of correspondence ever fell …

‘What A Strange Person’ – Captain Joseph Thomas

“You know what a strange person [Captain Joseph]Thomas is; and though [John Cowell] Boys and I received a handsome testimonial from him on the occasion of our discharge he has followed up the injury of disappointing us by constant snubbing and insulting conduct. However, we have restrained ourselves, taken everything quite coolly, and been careful …

BARRINGTON – Louisa Edith Simeon (1790 – 1832)

The story of the Simeon Family and that of Canterbury, New Zealand begins very much like the story of Canterbury itself. Sir John Simeon (pictured), like other lads from wealthy families, saw his teenage years in at Christ Church College in Oxford, as did his younger brothers, Charles and Cornwell.  It was there that he …

GODLEY HEAD – Captain Joseph Thomas (1803 – ?)

What actually inspired me to do the story of Godley Head was the old Maori term for the place, ‘Otokitoki’ which means ‘a place of axes’. My imagination was instantly stirred, but it proved to be one of the biggest anticlimaxes since I began to peel back Canterbury’s history almost 3 years ago. Standing like …