“…unusual fatigue, to which, in his praiseworthy endeavors to find a suitable spot on which to locate his family, the deceased had exposed himself…” The Lyttelton Times January 1851 John Williams was painfully aware that he, his wife Isabella and their 7 children only had a few days of grace at their first Canterbury lodgings …
Before discussing James Townsend, one must know the story of a young settler, who had just made his way down the Bridle Path in 1851 and made note of who had been the first real European settler (quite a noble title for a dead man!) in what would become Ferrymead. Jutting out of from the …
‘Honest John’ Cordy was manager of Homebush for the Deans from 1854 to 1859. An Englishman, he arrived in Christchurch in 1851 and ran a small run near the Bridle Path where newly arrived hoof-stock could graze before moving on when their owners were ready. On the 1st May 1854, John took over Homebush and …
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 …
A mural celebrating and acknowledging our history. “I was quite determined to see the plains if possible and we found a very good, though steep path to the top. The view was very fine, on one side the harbour, as smooth as a lake and quite encircled with high hills and down below, on the …
“I ventured into the great speculation of buying four cows from Crawford for £60, but not till after great deliberation and timorousness. Calculating on selling the milk as we did not want ourselves…concluded the bargain with Crawford for the four cows, which being milked this evening produced seven quarts, which sold in the yard for …
“It appears that, as usual, these settlers have been deluded by having had their expectations raised to an unreasonable pitch. They appear very well pleased with the country, but evidently had been lead to expect comfortable dwelling houses and every other accommodation prepared for them”. Charles O. Torlesse (Canterbury Association Surveyor) – 5th January 1851 …
As James Edward Fitzgerald sat in his over-sized dogcart while it was being transported across the Heathcote River by punt – he was feeling quite exhausted with Christchurch. He was fast approaching the end of his term as Superintendant and his health and temper would improve much due to that very fact. Beside and behind …
Bishop Henry James Chitty Harper was the first Bishop of Canterbury. He started his religious career as the Chaplin of Eton and then was the Vicar of Stratfield Mortimer in Berkshire. It was there that he was approached by Bishop George Augustus Selwyn (who was the Bishop of New Zealand) who asked him to become …
William Barbour Wilson was born in Kirkcudbrightshire in Scotland. He started off his adulthood as a nurseryman’s apprentice. He then moved to Ireland where he worked as an overseer for a few estates there. No one knows why he set his sights on New Zealand next. Maybe it was because New Zealand seemed a certain …
