This flag will again fly in Cathedral Square. Some of you will recognise it as the Somes House Flag. Adopted flag of the Canterbury Pilgrims and Early Settlers’ it will fly proudly to commemorate the arrival of the first four…
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Around 6th December 1850, Charlotte Godley (pictured later in life), the wife of Canterbury Founder John Robert Godley, became the first European woman to venture west of the Deans’ farm of Riccarton. She was in a party of nine people heading…
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In December 1850, the first ships carrying British settlers arrived in Canterbury. Many of the colonists built huts along the Avon River in what is now North Hagley Park. This cluster of huts became known as Settlers Corner. …
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The Canterbury Pilgrims Three half-score years ago-no more, Since Godley stood upon the shore, A leader of the Pilgrims bold, Who framed the New upon the Old, And stamp’d the Old upon the New, ‘Neath speckless skies of sunny blue….
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They came to a land, rugged and brown, With never a road nor field nor a town. But league upon league hills, plain and spur, Of grass the colour of weasel’s fur. Of leafless bushes and sedges harsh, And rugged…
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Canterbury Museum cares for a large collection of botanical studies and landscapes by renowned local artist, Margaret Olrog Stoddart. The daughter of an early Canterbury settler, Margaret was born in 1865 in Stoddart Cottage, Diamond Harbour and later lived…
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