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 …
Easily the roaring life of Cashel Mall during the 1980’s; in this new century I struggled to even picture it along Cashel Mall before the quakes stole it away for good. The Shades Arcade. It was purchased for 5 million dollars in 2009 by a developer who claimed his memories as a kid in the …
From 1851 Dr. A.C. Barker had always had problems with others concerning his plot of land on the corner of Cathedral Square, where the former Government Life Building is awaiting to be demolished today. Nicknamed the ugliest building in Christchurch, it has never the less – since the 1960’s – cast its shadow over the …
After reading about Sir William Fox and getting the idea that he tended to go where the wind took him, I can’t ignore the fact that today, we do not have a clear idea of what William was really like. The descriptions of his personality and values go from one side of the scales to …
Charlotte Godley (wife of Christchurch’s founder John Robert Godley) didn’t miss a thing. During her short time in New Zealand, she observed and met some of the very early colourful characters of Canterbury. None escaped the fury of her pen when she wrote letters home to her mother in England. Mr. Mark Pringle Stoddard was …
Those walking or travelling down Riccarton Road – known as Harewood Road in them days – during 1851 or thereabouts, I’m sure would have slowed their step and craned their neck in wonder at what was rising out of the Shands Estate. What was that crazy John Shand up too? Is that a tower? Widower …
On the 27th March 1848, the day the Canterbury Association was founded, the dream that was to become Christchurch was born. Although at the time, the Port Cooper (Canterbury) Plains was just one of the options, by the month of December, it was almost a certainty. All throughout 1848, Canterbury Association surveyors began to replace …
With Whitcoulls celebrating their 130th birthday at the moment, I figured it was about time I take a closer look at this Christchurch-founded New Zealand icon! Rather late really as my first ever job was at the Bishopdale branch back in 1994. It was a dream come true as it was my favourite shop in …
William Chisnall and his wife Sarah (some records say Steadman) arrived in Lyttelton a few months before the First Four Ships. As William was a carpenter, he had been employed by the Canterbury Association to help ready the Port for the new settlers. Aboard the ‘Randolph’ was William Derisley (W.D) Wood, Chisnall’s brother-in-law. Together in …
I’m sure as William Horner (1832 – 1905) walked down Papanui Road to work, he would glance over towards St Paul’s Anglican Church and dream – his destiny was very much laid out before him in Papanui. William and his wife Mary Proctor arrived in Lyttelton in 1859. They first settled there – where William …
