A new colony in New Zealand? A place they are going to call Canterbury? How fascinating! This was Benjamin Lancaster’s thoughts as he handed £150 over to the Canterbury Association in 1850. This opened the door to Canterbury for Benjamin in the form of land, even though he had no intention of moving his life …
“Altogether he [Captain Charles Simeon – remembered in the naming of Simeon Street] is not merely the fittest, but the only fit man. To [James Edward] Fitzgerald the objections are manifold; though very clever he is wild and harum scarum. A Superintendent, the chief executive person in the Colony should be especially slow and steady. …
The wildness of Menzies Bay was equally matched with the man who broke ground there – John Henry Menzies. Menzies Bay sits between Pigeon Bay and Little Akaloa. Before the 1820’s there had been a Maori settlement high on its shores but the Ngai Tahu’s Kai Huanga Feud had wiped it from the face of …
There is something extra special about a man who could hold a subdued conservation with the likes of William Sefton Moorhouse about the Railway coming to Christchurch (with a cigar in hand I’m sure) whereas on the flipside he could also fit in at a local tavern full of the rough and tumbles from the …