Upon seeing this wonderful painting of the road between Canterbury and Westland reminded me of a very interesting – and mostly unknown additional adventure concerning Arthur Dudley Dobson and his now much beloved passage through our Southern Alps. Arthur was barely 23 years old when the Canterbury Provincial Council sent him off to find the …
“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 …
On 17 March 1864, young surveyor Arthur Dudley Dobson crossed the harsh terrain that would become Arthur’s Pass. “Returning to Christchurch, I made a sketch of the country I had been over, and handed it with a report to the Chief Surveyor [Thomas Cass]. I did not name the pass, but when the gold-diggings commenced …
