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Christchurch’s First Public Well – 10th February 1864
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 …
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Permanent Land Chosen For Christchurch’s Law System – 1864
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 …
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New Zealand’s Oldest Sports Building Is Built – 1864
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 …
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Benjamin Mountfort Became Provincial Architect – 1864
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 …
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