Upon seeing this wonderful painting of the road between Canterbury and Westland reminded me of a very interesting – and mostly unknown additional adventure concerning Arthur Dudley Dobson and his now much beloved passage through our Southern Alps. Arthur was barely 23 years old when the Canterbury Provincial Council sent him off to find the …
“Rarely, if ever, has so much real work has been done by so small a body in so short a time; that never has any settlement been founded with so much success, so little disaster”. James Edward Fitzgerald ~ July 1853 *Canterbury’s First Superintendent* *Founder of The Lyttelton Times & The Press*
Rev. Henry Jacobs was under no illusion. He knew that there would be no church or school awaiting him upon his arrival in Canterbury but like any man of great faith, with his words and actions aboard the ‘Sir George Seymour’ would make one think a Cathedral awaited him. Henry had been promised work by …
On the 11th January 1851, the first issue of The Lyttelton Times hit the shelves. As the Canterbury Association made their plans for New Zealand’s newest Church of England (Anglican) settlement, they spoke of a grand Cathedral and college being at its heart with a good number of public domains for recreation and oh yes, …
As Mrs. Fanny Fitzgerald bustled along The Terrace, Wellington, she had one arm around her infant daughter while her free hand hitched her long petticoats away from the stomping heels of her shoes. To strangers, the frustrated crease between her eyebrows were no doubt caused by the stress of the recent break out of Scarlet …
“Altogether he [Captain Charles Simeon – remembered in the naming of Simeon Street] is not merely the fittest, but the only fit man. To [James Edward] Fitzgerald the objections are manifold; though very clever he is wild and harum scarum. A Superintendent, the chief executive person in the Colony should be especially slow and steady. …
“…with all his failings, was perhaps the best superintendent of his time in New Zealand”. Written by James Edward Fitzgerald (Canterbury’s 1st Superintendent) about William Sefton Moorhouse (Canterbury’s 2nd Superintendent) – 1863 *text from ‘Blest Madman’ by Edmund Bohan *image courtesy of http://earlycanterbury.blogspot.co.nz* Illustrated London News, March 20, 1886; pg. 292; Issue 2448
“He had grown more wonderful than ever, in dress and appearance. His hair is all brushed and shaved away from his face, except (for) a very long mustache and on hot days he used to wear the most frightful long brown holland blouse, left very open, with a belt and a turn-down collar, and on …
“There was one feature in his character which is not a popular one, and which he never cared to conceal or control, and that was his unmitigated hatred and contempt for humbug of every kind: whether it appeared in the form of dishonesty in money matters, or hypocrisy in religion, or of corruption in public …
As a teenager, Charles Bowen found himself rubbing shoulders with worldly wisdom and business knowledge in the shape of John Robert Godley, James Edward Fitzgerald and Lord Lyttelton. He was a budding Irish law student absorbing all he could amongst the upper class ranks of the Canterbury Association in which he had taken a keen …
