When twenty year old Walter Gee (pictured) stepped off the ‘Sir George Pollock’ in 1851 – the Canterbury Association’s 17th ship – he couldn’t have dreamt of the history he would witness and be part of. Listed as a carpenter on the Association’s passenger manifest, Walter was also a blind-maker but found little demand for …
Embedded into the very pavement of where High and Cashel Streets meet is a plaque acknowledging the spot where the very first ground was broken on a Christchurch street. Up to this point, only survey pegs marked out the roads. According the plaque, tussock was removed and the ruts left behind were filled in with …
Late 1851, in the middle of a sea of tussock, the Hart family stopped from their trek from Lyttelton and laid all their worldly belongings at their feet. A tent was soon erected and there the Hart family remained. By November 1851, a wooden building with stables was opened as the first hotel in Christchurch …
Upon recognising the historic and cultural value of the 163 year old ‘Grubb Cottage’ of Lyttelton, the C.C.C step in to save the London Street site in 2006. Funds were used for conditions and structure reports, a conservation and restoration plan and a commitment to preserve the “most significant colonial dwelling in Lyttelton” In 1849, …