Thanks are due to Don Hudson of Kiwi Publishers who recently donated several copies of the Kiwi Publishers 1998 reprint of George Walsh’s book “Richmond Christchurch – a Regional History” to the Richmond History Group. Don has also given us permission to copy the book and make it available online, so it is great to be able to make this scarce publication more readily available. The 48-page booklet, originally published in 1973, is hard to find nowadays; there are copies available in the New Zealand Collection at Tūranga, but these cannot be borrowed. The booklet is now available here as an 18MB PDF file; click the link at the end of this post.

George Walsh (1901–1975) was born in Richmond and his parents were long-time residents. His book is still the only publication that describes the development of Richmond from rural hinterland in the 1850s–60s to inner city suburb by 1890s and after.
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The booklet is not without faults; the title is something of a misnomer — there is nothing regional about the book, and some of the history pages include errors and should be read with a grain of salt. The strongest sections are:

Despite its shortcomings, the book is a valuable resource for people interested in our local history and we are indebted to Don Hudson for making it so readily available. 

Papers Past (https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/) is a wonderful resource for anyone interested in our history. The website is a service of the National Library of New Zealand and houses scanned copies of many historical New Zealand publications. Items include more than 150 newspapers, as well as magazines & journals, letters & diaries and parliamentary papers.

The 2 September 1918 issue of The Star included an article about Richmond on page 6. The image above has been compiled to make the article easier to read on-screen — the article originally appeared as a single column running almost the whole length of the page. 

There are several errors in the article, but it gives a vivid impression of Richmond 100 years ago, especially the area beyond North Avon Road, which had not long become part of Christchurch City. In the document below I have transcribed the article and included a contemporary map of the area. I have also added some notes where appropriate, to provide context and correct the errors. It’s good to know we live in a ‘sturdy’ suburb.
Feel free to explore the riches of Papers Past.

PERMANENT LINK TO THIS ITEM: 
​https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19180902.2.47