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The Great Peninsula Fire – 14th January 1898
On 14 January 1898, a careless cook at a grass seeders’ camp in Little River, left his fire unattended during a nor-wester. What resulted was one of the worst fires Banks Peninsula has ever seen – burning the best part of 4 days. The fire quickly spread across neighbouring properties; destroying homes, woolsheds, fencing and …
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Canterbury’s 4th Hanging Took Place – 21st July 1897
As 16 year old Agnes Lawcock made her way on foot towards the township of Amberley, she may have not a troubling thought in her mind, especially concerning the young gentleman who was also sharing the road with her that morning. Send out by her mother to run a few errands and collect the mail, …
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Victoria Park Opened – 22nd June 1897
On 22 June 1897, Victoria Park opened as part of the celebrations of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. The area was first chosen in 1870 but it took over 10 years before any development such as planting was done. William Moore lived on site from 1886 and was selling refreshments to the visitors venturing around the …
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Historic Riccarton Building Demolished – 1897
In 1897, Jane Deans made the hard choice of having the “accepted” city’s oldest building demolished due to it being a hazard. When the Deans brothers, William and John, and the Manson and Gebbie families arrived on the Port Cooper (Canterbury) Plains in 1843, Samuel Manson quickly erected a barn-like building where they could all …
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