In early October 1889, my 2 x great aunt, Clara Wright leaves her family home in Thames and travels on the steamer, ‘Tarawera’ to start a new life with her estranged father in Christchu…
It was hard to avoid sinking up to your knees in wet weather in Market Square in 1862. This panoramic photograph shows Christchurch’s Market Place (later renamed Victoria Square) the damp ge…
The first stone structure built in Cathedral Square was the small Gothic stone Torlesse building. Situated in the south-west corner of the square, the two storey, three gable dormer windowed buildi…
An open field along the west side of Manchester street, bounded by a row of well-grown English Poplars and known as the Circus Paddock, was regularly used for touring circuses which came to town.
The wide stretches of the Avon River provided a suitable stretch of water for rowing to become a major sport and past time for Christchurch residents. The Canterbury Rowing Club was formed in 1861 …
Sumner Beach was the last stop on the Sumner line. In this intriguing photograph, we can see the goings on of a typical summer’s weekend, one hundred and six years ago. Hundreds of city dwe…
The neat and narrow, plastered brick building of William Henry Harris, Tinsmith of Christchurch stood at 101 Colombo Street in a matching line with a set of others. Standing opposite Mason Struther…
In 1907, a former public house on the corner of Durham and Battersea Street, Sydenham, was opened as the first women’s maternity hospital in Christchurch. Founded by the Right Honorable Richa…
Drunkeness was a serious problem in Christchurch by the late 1870s. It didn’t help that for a city of its size, there were 47 hotels and breweries as opposed to just 10 dentists and chemist …
A report that maps earthquake induced topographical change and liquefaction in the Avon-Heathcote Estuary.
A report covering the effects of seismic activity upon inaka (whitebait) spawning grounds on city rivers.
Effect of the Christchurch February Earthquake effect upon freshwater fish of the Upper Avon River.
Marking Time in Sydenham In 1912, the impressive Sydenham Post Office stood as a sentinel on the busy corner of Colombo and Brougham Streets. It was a huge post office which served a large communit…
Oscar von Sierakowski’s factory and shop was built on the corner of Colombo and Tuam Streets in 1906. It boasted that it was the largest wire work factory in the colonies, producing decorati…
It is the year 1880 and Wilhelmina Arnst and John Christian Aschen have just married in the Deutsche Kirche, on the corner of Worcester and Montreal Streets. They stand outside on the street with t…
Cobb & Co.’s booking office on the corner of Cashel and High Streets was a hub of activity. Here the proprietor, W. R. Mitchell took charge of the bookings and service on this site since…
This intriguing photograph taken at the junction of Cashel and High Street draws us back to a typical summer day in Edwardian Christchurch in February 1913. A summer rain fall has just cleared, all…
An elderly man, dressed in a plum coloured suit and bow tie, stands gazing at his nearly completed home. It is September 1900, and this is no ordinary home, it is reputed to be the largest wooden r…
Alfred Ernest Lyttelton Preece was born in Christchurch, the only son of Hannah and Thomas, who ran a auctioneering and produce business. Hannah and Thomas, a native of Worcester, had come to New Z…
Imagine you were born 100 years ago… what job would you have done? If you are female, part of the working class and living in England, then there is a one in three chance that you would be pa…
A report covering the effects of the Christchurch February Earthquake upon invertebrates of the Lower Avon and Heathcote Rivers.
The impressive Bank of New Zealand building occupied a large corner of Cathedral Square and junction of Hereford and Colombo Streets. The Bank of New Zealand was first established in Auckland in 18…
The wooden church of St Luke the Evangelist, stood in Manchester Street, just north of the Avon, from 1858 until it was pulled down in 1908 to make way for a larger stone and brick structure, faced…
Christchurch’s newest and grandest hotel in the first decade of the 1900s was the Clarendon Hotel situated on the corner of Oxford Terrace and Worcester Street. It replaced the former two-sto…
Submission of the then New Zealand Historic Places Trust to the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission.
A report covering the effects of wastewater overflows upon oxygen and ammonia in the Avon and Heathcote Rivers.
A document produced by SPCA Canterbury outlining a plan for pet owners to follow in order to prepare for a disaster.
The steamer run from Wellington to Lyttleton is 175 miles, and the fare £1. As we travelled at night time and in a very fast boat we saw nothing, and in fact, as we got in very early in the morning…
Bathing machines are at last to be established at Sumner, and they will supply a want which has long been felt. There is one already at New Brighton in connection with the Hotel, but I should imagi…
The previously unknown Greendale Fault ruptured to the ground surface, causing up to 5 metres horizontal and 1 metre vertical permanent offset of the ground, during the September 2010 Darfield (Canterbury) earthquake. Environment Canterbury commissioned GNS Science, with help from the University of Canterbury, to define a fault avoidance zone and to estimate the fault recurrence interval. There is little evidence for past movement on the fault in the past 16,000 years. However, because of the uncertainties involved, a conservative approach was taken and the fault has been categorised as a Recurrence Interval Class IV fault (a recurrence interval of between 5,000 and 10,000 years). A PhD study by a University of Canterbury student will work towards refining the Recurrence Interval Class over the next three years. Taking a risk-based approach, the Ministry for the Environment Active Fault Guidelines recommend that normal residential development be allowed within the fault avoidance zone for faults of this Recurrence Interval Class, but recommends restrictions for larger community buildings or facilities with post-disaster functions. The report is assisting Selwyn District Council in granting consents for rebuilding houses on or near the Greendale Fault that were damaged by permanent distortion of the ground due to the fault rupture in the September 2010 earthquake. The report provides specific recommendations for building on or close to the Greendale Fault, which are being implemented by Selwyn District Council. See Object Overview for background and usage information.