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A Brief History of Papanui – by David O’Malley – 17/06/2013

In 1851 when the first settlers viewed Christchurch and the Canterbury plains, Papanui

stood out as being one of the two areas of native forest that could be seen from the

Bridle Path.

Sketch of the Canterbury Plains from the Bridle Path circa 1851.

The Canterbury Association had purchased most of Canterbury from the Maori in 1848.

Land packages in the city and suburbs were sold to settlers through a ballot process.

Papanui Bush was included in this process with the area being balloted between two

colonists from the first four ships which arrived in Lyttelton in December 1850.

Anne Bowen was balloted the eastern

side of the small forest. Anne was aged

44 when she arrived in Christchurch and

was a spinster who went on to be a

noted Sunday school teacher and friend

to Bishop Harper’s family, caring for the

children when their mother Emma died

in 1858. Anne passed away on 1st

September 1875 and is buried in St

Peter’s Church Cemetery, Upper

Riccarton.

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William Guise Brittan was balloted the western side of the forest. Brittan was aged 41

and became the head of the Canterbury Association’s Land Office. He donated materials

for the building of St Paul’s Church on Harewood Road, Papanui, which was opened in

1853. He died on 18th July 1876 and was buried in St Paul’s Cemetery where his son

Frederick was then the Parish Vicar.

Due to the urgent need for building materials and firewood, a thriving community quickly

developed in Papanui based on the timber industry. Small settlements sprang up around

what we now know as the Main North Road and Sawyers Arms Road and also

around the Papanui Junction of the Harewood and Main North Roads. Originally the

Main North Road was the track used by the Maori between their settlement in Kaiapoi

and Deans Bush, Riccarton.

Papanui Domain with Papanui High School in the background now stands where the Bush once grew.

Both owners of the Papanui Bush started businesses felling trees and sawing logs into

lengths of timber. To transport these much needed building materials, a road was built

from Papanui to the City. The Papanui Bridge was built in 1852 across the Avon River

into Market Square, now called Victoria Square. The lumber was taken by bullock drawn

wagons for sale in the city. There was plenty of work available to the sawyers and

labourers, and the settlements grew quite quickly. Houses and shops were built and

farms were started in the surrounding areas cementing the Papanui area as a village

farming community.

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By 1853, the area had its own blacksmiths, chemist, stores, and butchery and in the

same year a school room was opened. The first hotel was opened around this time, by

an American named Robert Carr. The hotel was named the Sawyers Arms Hotel. It was

built near the corner of Sawyers Arms Road and the Main North Road. Sawyers Arms

Road as we know it now, derived its name from the hotel.

The Sawyers Arms Hotel stood for about 20 years, before being burnt down in 1874

and was rebuilt by its long standing landlord John Wild. It was burnt down for a second

time in 1898 and was rebuilt by the proprietor, Alex Fairburn. On this occasion it was re-

named The Phoenix Hotel (pictured below) after the fabled beautiful bird rising from

the ashes. The Phoenix Hotel stood until 1989 when it was demolished during a shopping

mall extension.

Sawyers Arms Road Intersection on the right showing with the Phoenix Hotel behind and

the Waimari County Council Offices further along in the early 1910s. This photo was

taken on the Main North Road looking toward the Papanui Junction.

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In about 1859, William Meddings who was a local storekeeper and blacksmith, bought

the parsonage at the junction from the Reverend Bradley and opened it as the Papanui

Hotel (pictured below). The hotel was improved with new bars and recreational areas

being built over several decades and was finally demolished in 1969.

Papanui Hotel circa 1860.

By 1857 most of the trees in the Papanui Bush had been felled and the Papanui Area

continued developing into a grain cropping, market gardening and orchard farming

community. Due to the swampy nature of the ground, drains and ditches needed to be

dug before some areas could be farmed.

Two of the major drains in the area were named after local land owners, one being

Horner’s drain, which went North from Papanui to the Styx River, and Kruse’s drain

which interconnected with the Horner’s drain. The Kruse family owned land around the

area of Winters and Grimseys Roads, near St Bede’s College. The Horner family (pictured

below) arrived at Lyttelton in 1859 and by 1871 lived in a house locally known at the

‘Tea Caddy’ due to its shape. The house was erected on 50 acres of land and was

brought as prefabricated components from England by the Rev George Dunnage in 1851

and assembled on the property that was named ‘Springlands’. He came to Papanui to be

the first Vicar of St Paul’s but died before the church was completed; his was the first

burial in the cemetery in 1853. The Horner family owned farm land and businesses near

the Papanui Junction and are responsible for the naming of Horner Street, Lofthouse

Street (renamed Loftus Street), Mary Street, Proctor Street and James Street (renamed

Wyndham Street). In later years William Horner captained the local cricket team and on

an 1892 map was shown as the owner of the Clearwell farm in the area that became

Bishopdale. William and Mary were both buried at St Paul’s cemetery in 1905 and 1919

respectively.

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William Horner and family outside their premises on Papanui Road.

Papanui Junction, the Seven Oaks Butchery on the right, and the renovated Papanui Hotel c. 1880.

Other notable buildings and land-holdings in the area were the Matson Farm, which

was called ‘Delce’ and was in the area were Matsons Ave runs off Harewood Road. The

Matson family also ran an auctioneering business in the City. Opposite to Delce the first

Methodist Church was built in 1859. Subsequently a larger version was opened on

27/02/1870 and the current church on the corner of Chapel Street on 1/5/1913. The

Sisson family owned several market gardens in the area of Sawyers Arms Road, Main

North Road and Langdons Road and built one of the first cold stores in the area on

Sawyers arms Road.

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Papanui Railway Station.

In 1872 the Main Northern Railway line was opened through Papanui. In the early

years there was no station building. In 1900 the current railway station was opened.

Prior to this a large shed had served as the station building.

‘Sawyers’ Cottage in 1949. In earlier days it was the third house from the Main North Road.

Of significant historical interest is a cottage named Sawyers, built in 1869, which stood

at 44 Sawyers Arms Road until 2009. This cottage was built by James Rossiter on land

which was originally owned by Anne Bowen. It was moved to Lady Isaac’s Historic

Village at McLeans Island for restoration and preservation. This is most likely the oldest

surviving house from the Papanui area.

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In 1880 a tram line was laid down Papanui Road from the city to the terminus at

Papanui Junction (shown above). The early trams were steam powered or horse-drawn.

Electric trams were introduced in 1905. The tram line was extended to Northcote in

1913, with the extension being closed in 1930. The tram line stayed in use until 1954,

when it was superseded by the Christchurch Transport Board red bus service.

The first Papanui Pharmacy.

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One of the most notable buildings at the Junction was built by Robert Rickerby and

was most likely opened in 1911. It was commonly known as the Papanui Building.

Rickerby ran the Cycle Shop and an upstairs Billiards Room at the Main North Road end

of the building, where two more shops were subsequently added.

Papanui Junction with Rickerby’s Building, the Papanui Hotel and the Seven Oaks Butchery c. 1914.

Papanui Primary School was opened in 1871 near the corner of Main North Road and

Winters Road. The school was rebuilt further along and on the opposite side of Winters

Road on 6 acres of land in 1926.

Papanui High School was opened as Papanui Technical College in 1936 and attracted

students by railway from as far as Little River, Kaiapoi and Rangiora.

Papanui Technical College as seen at the completion of construction 1936.

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The Papanui area came under the jurisdiction of the Selwyn County Council in 1878

which was bounded by the Waimakariri River to the north, and the Rakaia River to the

south. In 1909 the Waimari County Council (WCC) was constituted from a part of the

Selwyn County and this area included Papanui.

The Memorial Hall corner of Horner Street & Papanui Road was opened in 1923.

In 1923 the WCC completed and opened the Memorial Hall on the corner of Papanui

Road and Horner Street. This building served for over 50 years in many capacities

including Town Hall, Dance Hall, Picture Theatre and Library. The Memorial Hall was

finally demolished in the late 1970s and the land eventually became a Memorial Garden

(pictured below 2008) for the fallen soldiers of both World Wars.

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In the early 1920s two new church

buildings were erected in the area. St

Joseph's Catholic Church, designed by

Mr Jacobson, was built on the corner of

the Main North Road and Vagues Road in

March 1922. This replaced the adjacent

‘Chapel School Room’ (shown to the

right) where services had been held

since 1878. The Parish was formally

established in 1924.

St Giles Presbyterian Church opened in 1924 and was built on the corner of Papanui

Road and Frank Street. This replaced the original church which was built on the Main

North Road in 1877 in proximity to where the Scout Den stands today.

In 1923 the WCC handed a large portion of the Papanui area over to the Christchurch

City Council (CCC). The Papanui areas that were still controlled by the WCC were finally

absorbed into the CCC in the 1989 amalgamation of the two organizations.

Once the CCC had taken over council duties in Papanui, the rate payers petitioned for a

park and children’s playground. After looking at several sites, 8 acres of land was

acquired behind the cold store on Harewood Road. The park has gateways onto two

separate areas of St James Avenue, and was named St James Park. There are

Memorial Gates and a Rose Garden on the entranceway nearest to Harewood Road,

which were erected to honour the Rev Griffin who was one of the main petitioners for

the park but died before it was opened in 1925.

St James Park Christmas Pageant in the early 1960s.

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Firestone Tyre Factory pictured in 1967.

One of the major industrial complexes in Papanui was the Firestone (Bridgestone) tyre

factory which commenced production on Langdons Road in 1949. Some of the land

bordering the railway line was previously farmed as an orchard by the Cone family

dating back to 1910. The plant remained in production for 50 years and was closed in

December 2009. Its future remains unsure but a portion of the land nearest the railway

line, including some the former orchard, has been gifted back to the city as a wetlands.

Another large industrial building on the Main North Road was the Ovaltine factory which

was opened in the late 1950s. It went on to be the home of Helene Curtis Cosmetics and

is still in use today as a storage facility for the Foodstuffs Supermarket Group. They have

announced plans that the Papanui warehousing will be closed in favour of extensions at

Hornby.

The Sanitarium Factory pictured from the Harewood Road entrance in 2008.

A continuing success story in the area is the Sanitarium Health Foods factory on

Harewood Road. It was the first New Zealand plant and has been on this site for 90

years developing from Edward Halsey’s original old red shed. Halsey was a baker trained

at Sanitarium’s Michigan factory in the U.S.A. The smell of Weetbix cooking and the prize

winning gardens will be familiar to most residents in the area.

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Papanui showing Northlands Mall and the Round-about at the Junction in 1968.

Papanui showing Northlands, Papanui High School, Firestone, and the Domain in 2008.

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Through the years Papanui developed as a major shopping area and in the late 60s

Northlands Shopping Mall was opened on the Main North Road. This complex has

grown immensely over the last 40 years and now covers the area between Sawyers

Arms Road and Langdons Road adjacent to Papanui High School.

As Christchurch City grew, Papanui developed from a farming community into a

suburban landscape. Gradually the farmlands were sold and housing developments

erected. Today some of the older housing has been demolished to make way for

Retirement Villages. Currently there are nine in the area with the tenth development

called Silverstream near the corner of Sawyers Arms and Greers Roads, yet to be

completed.

Papanui Junction and Rickerby’s building as seen in 2008.

After the earthquakes of 2010-2011 Rickerby’s Papanui Building was demolished on 23rd

Feb 2011.

Papanui today is a thriving suburb of Christchurch with several Government Agencies

and professional businesses established in the area. Over the last 160 years, the area

has seen 5 primary schools and 2 high schools, 5 churches, numerous parks and

reserves established. Papanui has always been regarded as a good place to live and with

its continuing development it will remain so in the future.

2010–2011 Earthquakes

Papanui's location in the North Western area of the city saved it from the worst of the

liquefaction that was suffered by the Eastern and Southern areas.

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All of the churches in the area were damaged to some extent. The St Paul’s Vicarage was

particularly badly damaged and has been demolished. As of mid-2013 encouraging

progress had been made in the repair of St Paul’s although the situation at St Joseph’s,

the Papanui North Methodist Church and St Giles had not been resolved. St Giles Church

has been demolished but the parish centre still remains there.

The Sanitarium factory was also significantly damaged and although production was

halted for some time, it is again operational with repairs having being made. Many of the

older shops in the Papanui Village were substantially damaged and demolished. It is

pleasing to see the new buildings replacing the old broken ones.