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Life at Riccarton before the Deans
Banks Peninsula whaler Edward Weller must have smiled to himself that October day in 1839. Maybe he even waved goodbye to those members of the Ngai Tahu who had foolishly sold him Banks Peninsula and the greater part of the Port Cooper (Canterbury) Plains for an old whaler’s boat and a few items of clothing. …
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The Crystal Palace Theatre
What was left of the Crystal Palace Theatre was demolished in 1986, I would have been 10. My love for movies (and Christchurch’s history too actually) was planted in me when I was very young. During the school holidays, my mum and I would bustle down to the bus stop outside the Caltex Petrol Station …
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Death On The Bridle Path
“…unusual fatigue, to which, in his praiseworthy endeavors to find a suitable spot on which to locate his family, the deceased had exposed himself…” The Lyttelton Times January 1851 John Williams was painfully aware that he, his wife Isabella and their 7 children only had a few days of grace at their first Canterbury lodgings …
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MILFORD – The Forgotten Slice Between Papanui & Merivale
I was gazing upon one of my favourite Dr. A.C. Barker photos when I noticed something I hadn’t noticed before. Around the mid 1860’s, the Doctor took a photo of some V-huts and most books that sport this historic image claim that it was taken in Papanui. I stumbled upon it again in another book …
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