I have walked around St Cuthbert’s Cemetery in Governor’s Bay many, many times, always intrigued by the headstones of the families that are buried there. The marriages between them ignited my imagination delightfully! As a teenager, I recorded down the info on these headstones and worked out the who’s who by the clues left to …
Growing up with older siblings, it was common place for my sister to get all dolled up and head out to meet with friends at Warners, the pub and hotel in Cathedral Square. Old Warners didn’t fight well against the earthquakes and is now an empty lot. The old historic icon in Cathedral Square is …
As a Management Committee member for the Canterbury Association, I’m sure Henry Le Cren felt a sense of achievement as he made his way down the jetty from the ‘Barbara Gordon” with all his worldly belongings. His cousin John Longden was with him – what an adventure to be in Canterbury, especially with the first …
This name-less reserve sits above the Cashmere Hills Presbyterian Church on Dyers Pass Road. It was once used as a resting place – first for the Ngati Mamoe and then the Ngai Tahu. Above this reserve is Sherwood Lane which is the location of Matuku-takotako – a cave that was used for shelter. From leaving …
The first time I read about the Hart family, my imagination was stirred! Here was this family fresh off the ‘Cressy’ struggling through the tussock of the Canterbury Plains (after tramping over the Bridle Path and punting across the Heathcote), squinting into the blazing setting sun. They stop for breath, the father looking at his …
Also known as Lord Lieutenant of Worcesteshire, George was born into a VERY noble English family. Educated at Eton and Trinity College, George grew up to be a British aristocrat and a Conservative politician. On his 21st birthday, he took his seat in the House of Lords. A great fan of colonialism, he became the …
Maybe it had been the tedious bumpy ROADLESS journey over the sea of tussock – from Hawkins (a stone’s throw from Darfield) to Rolleston – that made the farmhand lower the new plough down to harvesting position before he towed it back to Bangor in which he worked. He had been sent out hours before …
“So, how was your journey?” A mural that accompanies Pilgrims Rock at Lyttelton, acknowledging that the first jetty that eas built at this site. All the settlers that came off the first ships to Canterbury walked down this jetty and to their uncertain futures. *Photo taken by Chris Bulovic*
The fact that the MacKenzie Country is named after a famous outlaw and now folk hero shows our Kiwi laid back attitude off beautifully! James MacKenzie (1820 – ?) was a Scot that emigrated to Australia in 1849 – finding work in the gold fields there. No one knows for sure when James arrived in …
Benjamin Woolfield Mountfort stepped off the Charlotte Jane – full of ambition and cathedral-sized dreams! Born in Birmingham, England, the young Benjamin moved to London and studied architecture. Finishing his studies in 1848, he rolled up his sleeves and practised his new trade right there in London. With Emily, his wife of 18 days, his …
