BECKENHAM LOOP – Otautahi, Ihutai and Opawawaho

The Beckenham Loop is a part of the Heathcote River that sits south of Fisher Ave and east of Colombo Street.  It once was known as the intersection between three ancient Maori areas – Otautahi, Ihutai and Opawawaho. Otautahi is now known as Governor’s Bay and means ‘The place of one daughter’.  Over 300 years …

CHRISTCHURCH & CANTERBURY – Edward Gibbon Wakefield (1796 – 1862) John Robert Godley (1814 – 1861)

So, what are cities built on? Before all the politically correct answers start rolling through your mind, the answer is much simpler than that…a city is built on a dream. Edward Gibbon Wakefield (Owner of the New Zealand Company) and John Robert Godley (pictured) shared the same dream. In 1848, they founded the Canterbury Association …

The Cambridge Green

On the corner of Barbadoes and Salisbury Streets is an area now known as The Cambridge Green. A reserve of great historic significance.The home of the Ngai Tahu’s Puari Pa, it was a gathering place of foods such as eels, whitebait, native trout, grey and paradise ducks. During the 18th century, a great Maori wedding …