On the 11th January 1851, the first issue of The Lyttelton Times hit the shelves. As the Canterbury Association made their plans for New Zealand’s newest Church of England (Anglican) settlement, they spoke of a grand Cathedral and college being at its heart with a good number of public domains for recreation and oh yes, …
Next time you are getting a little impatient with how long the traffic lights are taking to change or moaning at the weeds growing untamed outside your window, I want you to think of these four Cantabs. Firstly, there was Marmaduke Dixon who with his own hands, dug an 8 foot deep well on his …
What do Para (Brazil) and the Canterbury Horticultural Society have in common? George Waldemar Skjellerup. George Skjellerup was born in Cobden, Victoria, Australia in 1881 and was the youngest of 13 children. In 1902, just before his 21st birthday, he arrived in New Zealand and began working in Dunedin at a bicycle shop. Within a …
THE FORGOTTEN, EARNED AND UNPOPULAR STREET NAMES OF CHRISTCHURCH Street names from the Canterbury Association that didn’t stick… The North, South,East and West Belts – Bealey, Moorhouse, Fitzgerald and Deans Aves – named after Canterbury’s three of the Superintendents and the Deans family of Riccarton. Antigua Street (part of) – Rolleston Ave – named after …
I was completely delighted to have been able to purchase this 90 year old booklet about Riccarton Bush last week. What a treasure! I have only had the time for a quick flick through – as I already have two books on the go – but I did come across something I thought was worth …
In the early hours of the 18th September 1850, the passengers of the ‘Sir George Seymour’ – the third of our First Four Ships – heard one of the distress calls that no one at sea wants to hear. FIRE! It is not reported whether the watch-keeper (name of the male passengers who strolled the …
It was August 1841 when William Deans, Jimmy Robinson Clough and George Duppa made their way around the Bays of Ohikaparuparu (Sumner) in a Whaler’s boat and crossed the (Sumner) bar into the Waipātiki – the low waters that we know as the Avon Heathcote Estuary. They sailed north-west and travelled up the Ōtākaro (Avon …
“I have been an active promoter of the Canterbury Association, and I now stand here to defend it on this ground alone, that is better than the Government. For 12 years….Sir George Grey [the Governor of New Zealand and pictured here in 1861] and his predecessors have had nearly the whole of New Zealand under …
“I know you will be angry with my talking in this way of Canterbury. But if your Lordship were to land, I fear that, while you admired the material progress if the Settlement, you would share the heart-sickness of those who remember the aspirations of Mr [John Robert] Godley’s time and who have learned that …
As much as Christchurch wanted its own identity and separation from the old country, some traditions followed the settlers that weren’t ready to die just yet. One of those traditions were balls; the first being held in the Lyttelton Immigration Barracks by the Godleys early 1851. This ball was considered a grand success – that …
