Edward Gibbon Wakefield (1796 – 1862) could roll with the punches! Born in London, he was a politician who took a keen interest in colonisation, firstly with South Australia.Before all the drama started, Edward eloped with a very rich Eliza Pattle; his eyes not so fixed on his new bride but the £70,000 she came …
On 17th March 1863, the weekly ‘Press’ became a daily newspaper. James Edward Fitzgerald – Canterbury’s first Superintendent – was in serious opposition of William Sefton Moorhouse and his railway tunnel through the Port Hills. Believing this ambitious project would bankrupt Canterbury, he tried to fight Superintendent Moorhouse through letters to the ‘Lyttelton Times’. Firm …
The construction of Sumner Road had begun in 1849 under the instruction of Canterbury Association’s Chief Surveyor, Captain Joseph Thomas. When John Robert Godley arrived in April 1850, he halted the work as it was already causing the settlement to slip into debt. Where the road was stopped became known as Sticking Point or Windy …
When the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 was established, New Zealand was split up into six provinces. Each province was its own sub-government and these were built around the six original settlements. The Canterbury Province sat between the Hurunui and Waitaki Rivers and stretched right over to the West Coast. At the head was a …
In 2000, as part of Canterbury’s 150th anniversary, New Zealand’s oldest illustrated childrens book was returned to Christchurch (from England) where it had been penned from 1851 to 1858. James Edward Fitzgerald – Canterbury’s first Superintendent and founder of ‘The Press’ – began to make the book for the three-year-old son of Canterbury Founder and …
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 …
