Just a year after the first four ships arrived, it came apparent that Canterbury needed a gaol! What was to be a perfect new colony soon was tainted by the nature of man. So Lyttelton Gaol was opened in 1851, designed by Benjamin Woolfield Mountford and built by the prisoners themselves. Prisoners also made the …
On 1 November 1921, the Woolston Borough joined the Greater Christchurch and came under the care of the C.C.C. Once named the Lower Heathcote, Woolston became known as New Zealand’s centre of the rubber industry. Always known as the working man’s suburb, Woolston can boast proudly of some of Christchurch’s earliest industrial history. The attached …
On 1st April 1921, Spreydon joined the Greater Christchurch and came under the care of the C.C.C. The area that we now know as the suburb of Spreydon was first owned by Augustus Moore who named it after his family’s land back in Ireland in 1853. Some reports stated that he farmed his land but …
Ernest Alfred Adams was born in Wellington, England in 1892. The son of a baker, upon finishing his education, he went to work for his father and learnt the trade. Sadly, soon after, his father was forced to declare bankruptcy, moving on to Australia for a new start. In 1912, Adams joined him, opening his …
One cold day in July 1920, the Addington Saleyards were packed with all kinds of hoof stock ready to go to auction – as it had been doing since 1874. Alone in his own pen was, what was described as ‘…a fat steer…’ who awaited his turn under the auction hammer. Maybe sensing that his …
From 23 November 1918 onwards, the Influenza Epidemic that had swept over New Zealand and the world claimed no more lives in Christchurch. Over the months of October and November, 8600 New Zealanders had lost their lives, including 466 Cantabrians. No agreement has been reached on how the epidemic reached New Zealand shores; one theory …
On 6 April 1918, New Zealand’s first cinema to screen British films, the Crystal Palace, opened in the north side of Cathedral Square. It was also well known for its 32 metre tower that dominated Christchurch’s skyline for 5 decades. In 1963, the theatre was renamed Carlton Cinema and remained popular into the late 1980’s. …
The moment Christchurch divorcee Elizabeth McMahon saw Fredrick William Eggers in handcuffs, she recalled him saying to her only days earlier, “I have made two terrible mistakes”. Fredrick William Eggers was born in Western Australia sometime around 1886. He began his adult life as a farmer but in 1909 was arrested for forgery and sentenced …
Ripa (Ripper) Island – as most of us call it today – was known to the Ngati Mamoe and the Ngai Tahu as Ri-papa. ‘Ri’ means rope and ‘Papa’ means flat rock. As ropes made of flax were used to bring the Maori canoes – some the length of 24 metres – up onto the …
Those amongst the ranks of the Christchurch City Council and the New Zealand parliamentary seats would have used the following words ‘…obsessed…focused…passionate…’ to describe their colleague and fellow councillor, Henry George ‘Harry’ Ell. And they would be right – Harry Ell let nothing and nobody put him off his project for the construction of the …
