J E Fitzgerald sepia watercolour “View taken from the terrace in front of Mr FitzGerald’s House at Lyttelton. The home in the center is Mr Ward’s in Quail Island, Nov 15 1852.” Executed for the valedictory gift to John Robert…
Read more
First Impressions Antony House (and its library) is very near Plymouth, from where John Robert, Charlotte and 2 year old ‘little Arthur’ Godley sailed for New Zealand, aboard the Lady Nugent on 12th December 1849. Immediately prior to sailing, they…
Read more
What would life be like on board an immigrant ship headed for a new life in New Zealand in 1850? There were 2 classes of accommodation on board: steerage and cabin Assisted immigrants Some immigrants paid for their own passages,…
Read more
Riccarton 1851. James Edward FitzGerald’s sepia watercolour “Residence of John Deans Esq. taken from the East”. The Deans brothers, John and William, had established their farm at Riccarton, on the future site of Christchurch, in 1843. Both Charlotte and her…
Read more
Anzac Day is observed on 25 April. It commemorates New Zealanders killed in war and honours returned and serving servicemen and women. The date marks the anniversary of the landing of Australian and New Zealand soldiers – the Anzacs –…
Read more
Who doesn’t love a good sale? The opening sale for the Christchurch branch of Schneideman and Sons Ltd 0n 27th November 1923. Schneideman and Sons were a firm of manufacturing tailors, with their head office in Wellington. This business was…
Read more
A group of adults and children in period costume during a re-enactment celebrating the centennial of the arrival of the first four ships in Lyttelton Harbour, and the landing of the passengers on shore, December 1950. Photos courtesy of Christchurch…
Read more
On August 14 1868 at 10:15 am (Chatham Islands local date and time), a large-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Arica, near the Chile-Peru border. The earthquake generated a large tsunami that was observed throughout the Pacific region. As…
Read more
The house built for John Robert Godley, his wife Charlotte and their son, ‘little Arthur’, in Lyttelton, in 1850. Godley was Agent General for the Canterbury Association and a sort of ‘Governor’ for the first two years of the Canterbury…
Read more
John Robert Godley died in London in 1861, at the age of 47. This photo of his son, Arthur (the ‘Little Arthur of Lyttelton’ a decade before) was taken in the same year and this photo of Godley’s wife, Charlotte,…
Read more