My dear old school friend Anthony hadn’t been working at the Christchurch Town Hall very long when he first heard about the haunted dressing rooms of the James Hay Theatre. I can’t recall whether he had been uneasy within himself when his duties called him to that part of the Town Hall or whether he …
“I will not attempt to draw aside the veil which clothes, or half reveals, the invisible power which has had so large a share in government”. Spoken by William Rolleston, who was referring to his wife, Mary Rolleston – 2nd February 1900 William was Canterbury’s 4th and last Superintendent and is remembered today in the …
“…with all his failings, was perhaps the best superintendent of his time in New Zealand”. Written by James Edward Fitzgerald (Canterbury’s 1st Superintendent) about William Sefton Moorhouse (Canterbury’s 2nd Superintendent) – 1863 *text from ‘Blest Madman’ by Edmund Bohan *image courtesy of http://earlycanterbury.blogspot.co.nz* Illustrated London News, March 20, 1886; pg. 292; Issue 2448
“We can excuse your being stupid but we cannot excuse your being dirty”. As told by one of his older sisters when a young boy – Year Unknown. William was Canterbury’s 4th and last Superintendent and is remembered today in the naming of the township of Rolleston. *text from ‘William and Mary Rolleston – an …
There is always something very special about those abodes and buildings in Christchurch that just don’t quite fit in…not only in a historic way but also in style and materials. Such a place exists on the corner Durham and Wordsworth Streets – Blackheath – as it states so proudly on its Durham Street frontage for …
“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 …
“Who that was then at Lyttelton can never forget that delightful and exciting time? Those long cloudless summer days when we first began to build sod cottages, to carry boards upon our shouldars, when we first had to rough it, when we grumbled and laughed in a breath, and really did a great deal of …
The suggestion of the need for a war memorial was first made in an article featured in ‘The Press’ on the 24th July 1923. The C.C.C. couldn’t ignore the support showed by the public for this idea so a competition was released for a design to be made. A company named Prouse and Gummer won; …
As the ‘Isabella Hercus’ – the Canterbury Association’s 6th ship – broke through the waves 200 miles north of the Equator that warm November morning, Chaplin James Wilson was on the deck, murmuring a desperate prayer. He was aware of Captain Houston crouching down beside him impatiently but this poor dead young woman lying before …
“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 …
