Richmond History

1987 CCC Report: "Richmond Neighbourhood Improvement Area"

10/2/2018

This report was prepared by the Christchurch City Council and published in 1987. The document consists of nine sections and includes descriptions of the Richmond area as it was in the late 1980s, as well as suggestions for improving the appearance, function and traffic flows in and around the area. So, it is an interesting snapshot of Richmond as it was thirty years ago as well as an insight into the thinking at the time, of people seeking to improve the area.

The report was based on discussions with local residents and involved input from several groups within CCC: Town Planning, Parks & Recreation and Traffic Engineering. Thirty years later, it is interesting to see which elements of the report’s recommendations have been implemented, and what changes have been made in the intervening years.

The document comprises 24 A4 pages, typewritten (using an electric typewriter?), including several photo reproductions (poor quality photocopies) and seven pages of maps and graphics. It is interesting to view a report produced using short-run analogue printing technology at a time when computer-based methods were just beginning to change drastically the look and feel of such publications.

ccc-richmond_neighbourhood_document-1987.pdf
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The Richmond Rambler

26/1/2018

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The Richmond Rambler was a monthly publication of the Richmond Working Mens’ Club, published between 1976 and late-1980s. Our collection at Avebury house includes the first two issues from September & October 1976. This was before the Richmond Village shopping centre was built(!?); Robert Muldoon had been Prime Minister for two years (seven more to go) and New Zealand was a very different place compared with today.

Ricky Gilmore, General Manager, RWMC, states that the club kept copies of the Rambler issues, but they were all lost in the damage to the buildings from the Canterbury earthquakes. Does anyone have old copies stashed away? We would love to borrow them for scanning so they can join these first two issues. We would, of course, return the originals to you in the same condition.

richmond_rambler-1_1976-09.pdf
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richmond_rambler-2_1976-10.pdf
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Shirley Intermediate School 1940 Project

17/1/2018

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This remarkable document came to light during preparations for the Shirley Intermediate School 75th jubilee in 2009. The document had been prepared by pupils at the school in 1940, as part of New Zealand’s centennial celebrations of that year. The entire school took part in a survey of their local district; the document’s 321 pages are divided into four sections: Historical, Geographical, Social and Economic.

The survey was carried out in accordance with official guidelines of the time; all the school pupils were involved and the entire document, apart from four typewritten introductory pages, was produced by the pupils. All the material is handwritten and all the many illustrations were prepared by the pupils, including 26 B&W photographs, which were taken and produced by the school photographic club.

The document offers a fascinating glimpse into our part of Christchurch in the mid-20th century, as seen and recorded by its children.

The entire document has been scanned and reproduced as a PDF file. We have prepared four files of each of the sections:
1. Historical Section: 62 pages, 19 MB.

sis_book-richmond-shirley-1940_historical.pdf
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2. Geographical Section: 32 pages, 11 MB.

sis_book-richmond-shirley-1940_geographical.pdf
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3. Social Section: 186 pages, 51 MB.

sis_book-richmond-shirley-1940_social.pdf
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4. Economic section: 41 pages, 14 MB.

sis_book-richmond-shirley-1940_economic.pdf
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St Saviour’s Orphanage Cookery Book

18/12/2017

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St Saviour’s Orphanage was located at 73 Stapleton’s Rd, on the western edge of Dudley Creek, opposite the intersection with Averill St. This site had previously been St. Mary’s Maternity Home from 1897 and became an orphanage in 1910. The orphanage continued until 1954 when St. Saviour’s was closed and the site was converted for use as an old people’s home, which later became Churchill Courts.

This 1939 publication was prepared as a fundraiser for St. Saviour’s, which by this time ran two orphanages: the one in Richmond, for girls and another for boys in Timaru. The cookbook offers a fascinating insight into daily life in Richmond before WW2. As well as many recipes, the book contains general information, such as ‘Hints for the Kitchen’, ‘Home Medical Treatment’ and ‘Household Hints’. Even the many advertisements make fascinating reading!

The book has been scanned and is reproduced below. To prevent the document being too large for convenient viewing, we have split the document into two parts: