Nihil stile quod non honestum – Nothing is useful that is not honest – The Press – www.press.co.nz motto.So true. The Press are onto something!I was completely ecstatic to see this in the foyer of the new Press Building on Gloucester Street.This pillar displays the very first edition of The Press, dated 25th May 1861. …
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 …
James Fitzgerald is known for starting “The Press” and William Moorhouse is known for bringing the railway to Christchurch (Ferrymead to Christchurch city) and New Zealand. What is also well known is that the two did not like each other and Fitzgerald used ‘The Press’ to express his own views on worldly things and hopefully …
The area that we now know as the suburb of Spreydon was first owned by Augustus Moore who named it after his family’s land back in Ireland in 1853. Some reports stated that he farmed his land but he is remembered today as a brewer, running a drinking establishment named the ‘Spreydon Arms’ which was …
Jesse Watts-Russell sure helped his son J.C. when he purchased for him 500 acres from the Canterbury Association for the new colony of Christchurch. 10 acres of this was in Lyttelton and the rest would become known as Ilam. 1850 would be a huge year for J.C.; he married Elizabeth Bradshaw and the newly weds …
From the era where newspapers became a main source of news, a battle has ensued between reporters to be the first to get the news to the public. It was no different for Canterbury – the first printing press arriving in the cargo hold of the Canterbury Association’s first ship, the ‘Charlotte Jane’ in 1850. …
On the 1st July 1862, English news fresh from the recently arrived ships at Lyttelton, was transmitted to Christchurch and namely ‘The Press’ by New Zealand’s first telegraph line. From the very first issue of ‘The Press’ on the 25th May 1861, the paper had an ongoing battle with not only the 10 year old …
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 …
