Tandem Bike
Not sure how I would feel if my date picked me up on this??? It’s not like me to share a ‘non Canterbury’ photo but this was too good not to share.
St George’s Chapel, Barbadoes Street Cemetery
Today, all that marks where the St George’s Chapel (pictured) stood in the Barbadoes (should have been spelt Barbados – a 1849 typo that wasn’t corrected) Street Cemetery is a large plaque with a grave map and an acknowledgement to all that were buried there without ceremony or marker. Barbadoes is considered to be Christchurch’s …
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HILLSBOROUGH – Edward Garland (1824 – 1893)
Edward and Annie Garland arrived at Lyttelton in 1854. No one today could begin to relate to what was going through Annie’s mind as she was led over the Bridle Path on the back of a white bullock! Edward got himself some land between the hills and the Heathcote River and built a little cob …
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Lest We Forget – The ANZACS
“Soon, however, … bullets were almost continuously splashing into it. I dug on until I groaned and cursed in the very agony of my endeavour. My limbs ached, and my temple throbbed; I was scorched with thirst, without the wherewithal to slake it. …. For myself, I was done, and in the shallow dugout lay …
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Richard “King Dick” Seddon (1845 – 1906)
Richard Seddon or King Dick – as he was referred to in his latter years – is the longest serving Prime Minister of New Zealand.Born in Eccleston, England in 1845, his unruly nature was the complete opposite to his parents; who were both teachers. Taking little interest in school, he left at the age of …
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Fees For Crossing The Heathcote River ~ 1850
If it wasn’t enough already to have gathered up all your worldly belongings and trudge over the Bridle Path after an exhausting 100 or so days at sea, some actually added livestock to the proceedings. If these Canterbury Association settlers were anything like Captain William B. Rhodes who brought the first ever hoof-stock to Banks …
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A Riccarton Ghostly Tale
When one thinks of the Austen Deans – award winning artist, mountaineer, World War II survivor – and the interesting life he crammed into 95 years, one could understand why he was the centre of a ghostly occurrence at Riccarton House that no one can really explain – even today. On the 1st December 1915, …
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MT PLEASANT & HILLMORTEN – Richard May Morten (1823 – 1909)
Tauhinu Korokio was the site of an Ngati Mamoe Pa. It was a superior location due to its 360 degree views, its amble wood supply and many water springs. The name came from two native shrubs that grew on what we now call Mt Pleasant. When the Ngai Tahu battled and won over the Nagti …
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Richard William Pearse (1877 – 1953)
As the children of Waitohi (near Temuka) walked home from school, they had gotten quite used to the rumbles and bangs that would be heard before Richard Pearse would come into view, appearing for just a few moments before disappearing behind the roadside hedge on his flying machine. ‘He is so odd,” one child could …
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AIDANFIELD – Mother Aidan Phelan (1858 – 1958)
Mother Aidan Phelan was Mother Superior at Mount Magdala Asylum from 1907 to 1920 and again in 1929 to 1936. The Good Shepherd Sisters had owned the land since 1886. Mount Magdala was a home for troubled girls and for women who had just been released from prison. The main income for the home was …
