In January 1850, a shipment of wood from Tasmania arrives at Lyttelton. A jetty and 4 immigration barracks are built – ready for the arrival of the first ships due later that same year. One of the builders was Joseph Johnston who went on to build the first school house that became Christ College and …
W.D Woods arrived in Christchurch on the “Randolph’, one of the first four ships on the 16th December 1850. Legend states that W.D. didn’t step on shore until the next day, his 26th birthday. Being born into a family of millers, W.D Woods fate was set. Wood’s first job in Christchurch was being secretary to …
Edward Jerningham Wakefield (1820-1879) had a lot going for him – he really had the world laid out before him. Born to Edward Gibbon Wakefield and Eliza Pattle in London, he became a member of a family that made colonising New Zealand a family business! Jerningham (as I will call him to save confusion with …
It never seemed to occur to Charlotte Godley that staying behind in England was an understandable option. After all, her husband, John Robert Godley was not to be away in New Zealand for more than 3 years. Charlotte Griffith Wynne was born in North Wales in 1821. One of eight children in a well-to-do family, …
John Robert Godley was a man who everyone seemed to have an opinion about. One man would say “he was a King amongst men’ where another called him ‘a whale in a duck pond’. Both descriptions paint an image of the man who founded Christchurch. Born in Dublin in 1814, he grew up in the …
Here are the foundations of the house built for John Robert Godley, his wife Charlotte, their 3 year old son Arthur and two servants at Lyttelton – not very big huh? In 1940, this was covered up with a new building for Plunket. The house was built for Godley in 1850 and in the months …
As the citizens of Christchurch went about their business at the Land Office (which is now a part of the Canterbury Provincial Chambers), upstairs, in a very small room sat four of our founding fathers, squished in side by side behind a small table. They were John Robert Godley (founder of Canterbury), Mark Stoddart (first …
Captain Joseph Thomas is easily the most forgotten man in Christchurch’s history. Born in 1803, Joseph was educated at the Royal Military College – so naturally he spent the beginning of his working life in the Army. He served in India and the West Indies, retiring in 1830. He travelled to South America where he …
On the right hand-side as you drive into the Riccarton Ave carpark of Hagley Park (by the tennis courts) sits this historical gem. The memorial tablet acknowledges the departure of John Robert Godley from New Zealand, the founder of Canterbury in 1852. This breakfast event was set up in a spacious marquee, catered by the …
As early as 1850, there were 3 squares in the first map of Christchurch. To be named after three 16th century martyred Bishops: Latimer and Cramner Squares started to take their shape…so did Ridley Square which was destined to become known as Cathedral Square. All three were to have churches built on them. Latimer Square …
