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 …
Charles Orbin Torlesse had a few hard decisions to make as he stood outside the fire gutted remains of his work building – the ‘Torlesse & Mason’ land office. He was not the only one as fifteen other Christchurch businesses were destroyed that day. The fire had ripped through the block of land between Colombo …
“[Thomas] Cass, [John Cowell] Boys and I have brought 43 heads of cattle and I am going out to Rangiora Wood to manage and take charge of them. I hope to have plenty of leisure to make a home and garden. I have rented 1,750 acres of pasturage for about £14 per year…as soon as …
On the 30th December 1850, surveyor Charles O. Torlesse chained and pegged the first road to the Canterbury Plains – from this point at Church Corner, Upper Riccarton – opposite Countdown. Named Harewood Road, it was from this road that sections began to be sold to the settlers. The term Yaldhurst began to be used …
