Captain James Penfold first took to the sea at the age of fifteen. As owner of the schooner ‘Excelsior’, Penfold took on contracts for the delivery of goods between New Zealand and Australia. In 1862, he sailed to Christchurch, with a cargo of hardwood sleepers for Ferrymead and became shipwrecked on the infamous Sumner Bar. …
On 26th December 1861, what would become the Isaac Theatre Royal opened on the opposite side of Gloucester Street, and was known as the Canterbury Music Hall. Just a simple barn-like structure, it was less than two years later when it was renamed the Royal Princess Theatre. This was to honour Princess Alexandra of Denmark …
On 26th December 1862, the newly formed Christchurch Agriculture, Botanical and Horticultural Society put on their first horticultural exhibition. Gardeners and florists were encouraged to bring in samples of their plants and produce with prizes on offer. About 2000 people attended, mostly made up of ladies. This took place in Cathedral Square, opposite the western …
My hat is off to John Robert Godley who turned his passions into actions, founded an association that convinced some of the biggest names of England’s upper class to part with their money, traveled half way around the world into the unknown, offered a face to face assurance to our first Cantabs, worked 15+ hours …
As Scottish born Jeanie Collier carefully made her way from her South Canterbury Raupo-roofed cottage, she was practically blind, if not completely. Tight in her hand was her walking stick which helped her on the way. But Jeanie wasn’t alone – both her sister, Margaret, and nephew George, her caretakers, accompanied her and stopped with …
On 17th March 1863, the weekly ‘Press’ became a daily newspaper. James Edward Fitzgerald – Canterbury’s first Superintendent – was in serious opposition of William Sefton Moorhouse and his railway tunnel through the Port Hills. Believing this ambitious project would bankrupt Canterbury, he tried to fight Superintendent Moorhouse through letters to the ‘Lyttelton Times’. Firm …
Canterbury’s oldest liquor licence was issued to John Hastie on 1st July 1860 for the Hurunui Accommodation House. The building that we know today was erected in 1869 by John’s widow. It is unclear whether it actually took the Hastie’s nine years to finally open a business or whether the current hotel replaced a more …
When the ‘Charlotte Jane’, the first of the Canterbury Association ships arrived at Port Lyttelton mid December 1850, around seven hundred people were already living in and working around the harbour. On 3rd January 1851, a ‘Charlotte Jane’ passenger, Edward Ward, wrote the following into his journal… “Rode with Mr. [John Robert] Godley [Founder of …
On 5th August 1859, an upset crowd poured out of the Golden Fleece Hotel (the south eastern corner of Colombo and Armagh Streets) as the ranting of an ex-soldier disturbed what was meant to be a public meeting about forming Canterbury’s first volunteer militia. The second meeting didn’t go much better as the same soldier …
On 4th August 1859, the Mechanics Institute opened the Canterbury Public Library for those who wished to further educate themselves. A few hundred books were made available to one hundred subscribers, all set up in a single room at the Town Hall, High Street. The first books for public use arrived in Christchurch via the …
