The view of Waitaha (Canterbury Plains) from the top of the Te Poho o Tamatea (Port Hills) in the late 1830’s wouldn’t be hard to imagine – swamp, grass, cabbage trees, flax and Toi Toi. Was it a place where a future could begin for someone not afraid of hard work? William Barnard Rhodes (pictured) …
“Rode with Mr [John Robert] Godley over the hills to the Plains. Went first to Christchurch, where there are about 4 huts, 3 tents and a hovel or 2 – with about 25 persons in all…the [Canterbury] Association store, a surveyor’s hut are the principal buildings upon what may be some time a great city …
“…the work done in the old Provincial days, and the men who did it, deserve to be held in grateful recollection. When we consider what our Canterbury Provincial Government left behind, when we look at the roads, bridges, harbour works and even railways, by which the province was opened up…we are justified in believing that …
In 1884, the Lyttelton Harbour Board was approached about building bathing sheds close to Cave Rock. Even though this board said no to the idea, the Sumner Town Board continued to look into the possibility. After deciding that the eastern end of The Esplanade was best, 11 acres of shoreline was put aside. A year …