On 25th April 1864, the who’s who of early Canterbury gathered together in the Christchurch Town Hall, which was situated on Sumner Road (High Street). The historian in me marvels at such a gathering with the likes of these attending… * Venerable the Archdeacon Octavius Mathias:– the 2nd Rev of Christ’s Church (St Michael & …
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 …
On 10 February 1864, work men from the Christchurch City Council were driving a 2 inch thick pipe down into the ground on the corner of Tuam and High Streets looking for water. Although back then, it was the corner of Tuam Street and Ferry Road. The pipe reached the depth of 25 metres when …
As early as February 1851, just two months after the arrival of the Canterbury Association’s first ships, Canterbury’s Founder, John Robert Godley, swore in Christchurch’s first Magistrates. One of those was Edward Ward, who wrote in his journal about the times he took his place on ‘…the bench…’ to help solve our settler’s earliest legal …
On the day that Christchurch and Canterbury turned one year old (16th December 1851), the undeveloped area known as Hagley Park was a small hive of activity. An event that would later become the ‘Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Show Day’ (A & P Show) made it humble debut, our settlers bringing fruit, vegetables and other …
Benjamin Woolfield Mountfort stepped off the Canterbury Association’s first ship, the ‘Charlotte Jane’ full of ambition and cathedral-sized dreams! Unfortunately for him, Christchurch was nowhere ready for an architect, as experienced as he was. He made his living by selling stationery and giving drawing lessons. In the late 1850’s Benjamin went into architectural business with …
From the moment the names of Christchurch and Canterbury were adopted at the very first Canterbury Association meeting on 27th March 1848, these founding fathers wanted this new Anglican settlement to be built around religion and education. A cathedral and a college would be built in the town’s main square. With this in mind, the …
“The Archdeacon called to the recollection of the company the boldness with which Mr [William Sefton] Moorhouse had first announced what was then the new idea of a railway: that idea Mr Moorhouse had turned into a fact; with an untiring disregard of ceaseless opposition Mr Moorhouse had held to his plan and had at …
On the 7th September 1863, George Lumley was found guilty of the manslaughter of Cornelius O’Connor at the Christchurch Supreme Court. He was sentenced to 3 years hard labour. As his charge had been dropped from murder to manslaughter, he escaped a death sentence. On the evening of the 10th July 1862, Lumley and O’Connor …
The Albert Edward Oak is the oldest tree in the Botanical Gardens. This tree was planted on 9 July 1863 in celebration of the marriage of Prince Albert to Princess Alexandra of Denmark. This tree is now regarded to be the beginning of the gardens that we know today. On the same day, another Oak …
