It was August 1841 when William Deans, Jimmy Robinson Clough and George Duppa made their way around the Bays of Ohikaparuparu (Sumner) in a Whaler’s boat and crossed the (Sumner) bar into the Waipātiki – the low waters that we know as the Avon Heathcote Estuary. They sailed north-west and travelled up the Ōtākaro (Avon …
On the 27th March 1848, the day the Canterbury Association was founded, the dream that was to become Christchurch was born. Although at the time, the Port Cooper (Canterbury) Plains was just one of the options, by the month of December, it was almost a certainty. All throughout 1848, Canterbury Association surveyors began to replace …
Thomas Cass (1817 – 1895) Died of old age Place of Death: Christchurch Chief Surveyor of Canterbury 1851 – 1867 Buried at Barbadoes Street Cemetery. The story of Thomas Cass: http://www.peelingbackhistory.co.nz/thomas-cass-1817-1895/ Photo taken by Annette Bulovic
Tommy Cass knew life’s ups and downs. By the time he was surveying the 33,000 acres that would become the Deans’ future rural station of ‘Homebush’ in 1851, Tommy had earned the respect and admiration of all those around him. You get the feeling that he walked along with a great confidence and self knowledge …
As the citizens of Christchurch went about their business at the Land Office, 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 European to explore Lake Coleridge and whom also named Diamond …
Sir Arthur Dudley Dobson was truly a man-child amongst men! Arthur first entered into history as a nine year old, aboard the ‘Cressy’ with his father Edward Senior and his older brother George. His mother and younger siblings would arrive the following year aboard the Fatima – the Canterbury Association’s 19th ship. Edward Senior struggled …
I’m sure after Edward Jollie had finished surveying (driving pegs into the ground to mark out the roads and sections) the areas of Canterbury that would become Christchurch, Lyttelton and Sumner, he was quite over tussock, flax, cabbage trees and slipping up to his thighs in the swamp that was the Canterbury Plains in 1849. …
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 …