Eliza Robinson had no idea what to think when loud screaming from the hallway made her look up from her cup of tea. She had been enjoying a hot drink with her daughters and house guest Patrick Campbell in the dining toom when within a moment, her maid Margaret Burke burst into the room, stumbling …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Was very surprised to come across this memorial plaque on a seat in Victoria Square. I had seen the graves of Stephen and Rebecca Brooker in Addington Cemetery and knew their story. It goes like this: William Free was just 10 years old when he arrived in Lyttelton on the “Cressy”. 10 or so days …
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 …
The Papanui Bridge, and Papanui Road for that matter, were very important in the first few years of the settlement of Christchurch. It was where timber from the Papanui Bush (now the site of the Papanui Domain on Sawyers Arms Road) was brought into the city via drays to be sold at Market Square (Victoria …
On 21st May 1853, Market Place, now known as Victoria Square held its first market. As Canterbury Association’s surveyors, Captain Joseph Thomas and Edward Jollie marked out the area that would be Christchurch’s market place, they showed the most amazing ability to look up over the sea of tussock and see what would be. Christchurch …
