I can never look at a view of our beautiful Lyttelton Harbour without looking for the ‘Charlotte Jane’ to come sailing around the corner of the heads – just like she would have done on the 16th December 1850, carrying the first of our Anglican settlers. So would have loved to have seen that historic …
On the corner of Mandeville Street and Riccarton Road sits Mandeville Reserve, a gift from John Heaton Rhodes to the people of Riccarton Borough. In 1857, a beautiful house was built on that corner. It was named ‘Oakford’ and was owned by Henry Joseph Hall. He became chairman of the Riccarton Road Board in 1875 …
The news of finding coal at Homebush had been pretty exciting for the Deans and all concerned. James McIlraith – Jane Deans’ half brother and manager of Homebush – and Julius van Haast – the founder of the Canterbury Museum – had made the discovery in the late 1870’s. Just two years later, a coal …
As a Management Committee member for the Canterbury Association, I’m sure Henry Le Cren felt a sense of achievement as he made his way down the jetty from the ‘Barbara Gordon” with all his worldly belongings. His cousin John Longden was with him – what an adventure to be in Canterbury, especially with the first …
The Weeping Willows of Christchurch has such a lovely sound to it 😉 By the Avon in Victoria Square, the story of Canterbury’s Weeping Willows are told on this plaque, a nearby Willow it seems standing guard 🙂 François Lelievre was born in Les Parlierre, France around the year of 1811. He grew up on …
