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Cave Rock’s Flagstaff
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 …
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Quail Island Gets A Feminine Touch
I can’t say whether Elizabeth Watts-Russell was one of those who laughed when the Ward brothers – Edward, Henry and Hamilton – chose Quail Island as the place to set up their farm. The brothers were well aware of the giggles happening around Lyttelton as they prepared to make their move. Edward – the eldest …
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The Father And Mother Of Ashburton
William Turton first saw Ashburton in 1858 when he was just passing through. Nothing much more than a vast plain with the odd cabbage tree, he let his eyes scan over the bland scenery to the horizon. What he saw is anyone guess but something in him stirred and Ashburton’s real European history began. Ashburton …
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Lancaster Park
A new colony in New Zealand? A place they are going to call Canterbury? How fascinating! This was Benjamin Lancaster’s thoughts as he handed £150 over to the Canterbury Association in 1850. This opened the door to Canterbury for Benjamin in the form of land, even though he had no intention of moving his life …
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