Lost Christchurch – Remembering Our Lost Heritage

Loners, Vagrants and Deserters – The Port Hills Cave Dwellers

Since early European settlement, the caves that honeycombed the Port Hills, from Sumner to Lyttelton, have been used by all manner of loners, vagrants and deserters as places of escape or retreat...

Flax, Coffee, Tea and Chicory – the Trent Brothers’ Christchurch Empire

Ten days before Christmas, 1877, two settler brothers, Frederick and James Trent, stand at the altar of St John the Baptist Church in Latimer Square awaiting their brides. Along with their oldest brother Edwin, they are in the process of establishing one of the most diverse and successful grocery businesses in Christchurch...

Ethel Bradley and the Cashel Street Mystery

Love, lies and lost lives - the tangled tale of a Christchurch domestic, how she met her end in 'Mystery Lane', and the dramatic court cases that followed...

Midday on Manchester Street c.1905

It is midday on the busy intersection of Manchester, High and Lichfield Streets. The street is full of activity as shoppers make their way down the busy pavements...

Steam and Speed, Christchurch’s Railway Station in 1878

New Zealand's first public railway line offered settlers an easier way to haul their luggage and furniture as well as providing an efficient transport system across the seven kilometres to Christchurch's first rail terminus building on South Belt...

A Picturesque but Precarious Position for Lyttelton bound Passengers

The ordinary routine of running the express train on the No. 2 wharf at Lyttelton and transferring the passengers to the waiting ferry steamer was disturbed on the evening of the 26th March, 1907 by a startling incident at about a few minutes past six o'clock.

John Peacock and his Controversial Fountain

A tale of convicts, ship wrecks, strange family relations and a £500 Bequest ...

Canterbury College students out for sport on Capping Day

The Canterbury College Students’ procession as part of the capping festival took place on the morning of 13 June 1915, an enormous crowd of spectators crammed every inch of Cathedral Square to witness the event...

Bathing Machines and Indecent Swimming Attire – New Brighton and Sumner Beaches

Bathing machines were a seaside feature during the later part of the 19th century on Christchurch beaches, notably Sumner and New Brighton...

In Defense of the Christchurch Girl

The Christchurch Girl According to the Press, feeble out of doors, useless in domestic duties, the Christchurch girl’s most deplorable feature is her absolute lack of brains and mental culture. She is not only weak, clumsy and ill-dressed, but absolutely ignorant and stupid...

The Earthquake Wave at Lyttelton - 1868

The town of Lyttelton on Saturday morning (15 August) was thrown into a state of great excitement owing to a most extraordinary rise and fall of the water in the harbour.

Rosa Harris’ Corner Shop, Beckenham 1919

It is the start of the second week of June, 1919 and New Zealand’s Prime Minister is in Paris awaiting the signing of the Peace Treaty with Germany. At home in Christchurch, mothers and wives await...

Gala Day at Wainoni Park – 1909

There is great excitement in the households around Christchurch today. It’s Labour Day holiday and many families are going to Wainoni Park for the opening of the season...

Our city is a repository for the social and historical narrative of our past

Each street, wall, facade, interior is an integral part of the people who walked passed them, shopped in them, worked in the offices, drank in the hotels and prayed in the churches.

Everyone who has lived here, has played an integral part in making this city what it is. No matter how young or old, significant or private their lives were, by simply living here, each one left their imprint here.