In the past, I twice visited Christchurch , where friends , a journalist and his schoolteacher wife now live in nervous uncertainty. On the first visit , the city boasted a council employed Wizard, Ian Brackenbury Channell, who spake out from a ladder in Cathedral Square , near the Anglican church , badly damaged in the first big quake.
Christchurch’s bookshops ( especially the renowned Smith’s), antique centres , large market and a bottle and collectables fair were perused for items of interest ,which included a large scrapbook covering the social history of the South Island ,commencing before WW1, cabinet photos , old Christchurch school magazines, early NZ poetry, postcards , and the collection of a ballet fan which contained autographed programmes and photographs of a famous Russian company which toured NZ .
As a tribute to Christchurch , we will publish items bought during pleasant visits to Christchurch with its grand old buildings , many of them now destroyed or badly damaged , in much happier times .
Built for Allan McLean , a bachelor in his late 70s, this spectacular Christchurch mansion ,Holly Lea , was said at the time to be the largest timber construction in NZ . McLean was born in Scotland in 1822 ,the son of a farmer-fisherman .When his father died early , his mother and nine children emigrated to Victoria to join the goldrush ,and struck it rich .
Mclean moved to NZ and became one of the wealthiest men in Canterbury through sheepfarming during the early years of settement. Late in life , he had the mansion built in Christchurch ; it covered 23,000 square feet and contained 53 rooms . When he died in 1907 at the age of 85 , his will established a fund for housing women of refinement and education in reduced or straitened circumstances in memory of his widowed mother . His faithful housekeeper was well catered for as well.
The above postcard , sent to a nurseryman in Auckland, states the mansion is the house built by “that old batchelor " (sic). The NZ stamp on the postcard was cancelled at the spectacular Christchurch International Exhibition on December 27 , 1906.
The exhibition was the idea of the NZ PM Richard "King Dick" Seddon , who died a few months before it opened, and attracted two million visitors , when the Kiwi population was less the one million. A big drawcard was the British Art Exhibition, viewed by half a million, which influenced post- colonial art appreciation and art societies on both sides of the Tasman.
Delegations attended from Fiji and the Cook Islands. A fortified Maori village, the Te Araiteuru pa, and canoes , with a mock battle between Maoris and pakehas, also attracted much attention, giving many people, including New Zealanders, a greater understanding of indigenous culture , their arts and crafts.
Australian artists exhibited included Hans Heysen , Jane Sutherland, Will Ashton ,William Lister and Elizabeth Armstrong. The general manager of the exhibition, G.S.Munro, sought advice from Victoria about the 1880 Melbourne Exhibition in planning the Christchurch event.
TEA BREAK : Included in our Christchurch trove are two fine bone china cup and saucer sets , souvenirs of the Christchurch International Exhibition 1906-7, each cup bearing the name MINSON’S,220 COLOMBO ST.,CHRISTCHURCH on the base , possibly made by the German or Czechoslovakian souvenir trade. Minson’s sold good quality china, cutlery and household requirements, was a Christchurch institution (Everybody Went to Minson’s ) based on a family emporium in Cornwall.
It operated from an impressive three-storey shop . One of its main display areas had a springy wooden floor which caused the stock to rattle as people walked through - giving the impression of being" like a bull in a china shop". Imagine what damage it would have sustained if hit by a major earthquake . (See Canterbury Heritage blogspot and New Zealand Journal site for photos of and information about this once great Christchurch shop .)
