PEERSWICK – the forgotten past of Church Corner.

At Church Corner, at the western end of Riccarton Road, opposite Countdown are a series of shops and arcades.  Long past their prime and popularity, one arcade there especially doesn’t fit in and that would be the Peerswick Mall.  This very British sounding collection of shops is now the hub of Christchurch’s Asian shopping market, …

The Rhodes Spring Turned 100 – 2014

Harry Ell – a Cantab lad, visionary and lover of the Port Hills – had visions of walkers and travellers enjoying a network of scenic reserves along the Port Hills connected by a road with rest-houses along the way – right through to Akaroa. He planned just fewer than 20 rest-houses along what would start …

The Fire House Nightclub

As the sun set on the era of the Provincial Government, Christchurch – like most of the country’s main cities – must have felt a sudden vacuum as the Christchurch City Council settled itself into its new role.   Christchurch that we know today was in 1876, just a land mass with pockets of population, only …

George Hawkes Whitcombe (1854 – 1917)

George Hawkes Whitcombe (1854 – 1917)   Died of old age     Place of Death: Christchurch * Co-founder of Whitcombe and Tombs, now known to us as Whitcoulls. George is buried at Linwood Cemetery, Linwood, Christchurch. The story of Whitcoulls: http://www.peelingbackhistory.co.nz/whitcoulls-130-years/ Photo taken by Annette Bulovic

The (London) Times – a press, an editor, a reporter and a determined resolution

“At the head of the Pilgrims stood an actual bishop [Selwyn], behind him were working clergy, working schoolmasters, working landlords, working labourers, workers every one.  Between deck and keel were the elements of a college, the contents of a public library, the machinery for a bank, the constituent parts of a constitutional government.  It is …

Robert Heaton Rhodes (1815 – 1884)

Robert Heaton Rhodes (1815 – 1884)      Died of old age     Place of Death: Christchurch * The suburb of Elmwood is named after Robert’s estate of Elmwood, now Heaton Normal Int. School and Elmwood Park. * Father of Sir Heaton Rhodes. * 1853 – 1862 – Member of the Canterbury Provincial Council * …

Rose Mairehau Hutton nee Rhodes (1894 – 1991)

Rose Mairehau Hutton nee Rhodes (1894 – 1991)      Died of old age     Place of Death: Christchurch * The suburb of Mairehau is named in Rose’s memory. * She is the sister of Arthur Edgar Gravenor Rhodes – Christchurch’s 24th Mayor 1901/02 * She is the niece of William Sefton Moorhouse. * She …

Murder at the Lyttelton Anglican Cemetery

Shipwright John Blair Thompson watched his 11 year old daughter Isabella skip away from him, her happy laughter pouring into his ears.  She had every reason to be joyful and excited, the school picnic was a few days away and the whole township of Lyttelton always looked forward to such an event.  It was to …

Captain Charles Simeon (1816 – 1867)

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 …

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 …