PLAQUE COMMEMORATES FORMER PAPANUI BUSH

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29367, 21 November 1960, Page 17

PLAQUE COMMEMORATES FORMER PAPANUI BUSH

Commemoration of the former Papanui Bush as a valuable reminder of its important part in the early building development of Christchurch in the 1950’s was praised by the Mayor (Mr G. Manning) at a ceremony held at the Papanui Domain on Saturday morning to unveil a special trust notice board for the bush. Organised by the Canterbury regional committee of the National Historic Places Trust, the ceremony marked the unveiling of the first board of its kind to be erected by the trust in Christchurch.

Introduced by the chairman of the Papanui Domain Board (Mr A. Robinson), the chairman of the Canterbury regional committee of the National Historic places Trust (Mr W. J. Gardner) emphasised the importance of preserving in tangible form the work of the early settlers of the city. Without perpetuating glorified legends about the pioneers it was still possible to remember their achievements, for what they were, he said. “We must recreate in our own imaginations the conditions which existed in Christchurch when the first pilgrims arrived—the bare tussock plain enclosing this small and valuable pocket of timber land. This is something we all ought to remember,” he said.

Mr F. W. Sisson, who is a fourth-generation member of an old Papanui family and whose grandfather gave the Domain to the Government of the day, gave some short reminiscences of life in Papanui in the early 1900’s when much of the district was still bog ridden.

Reminding citizens that the whole city was built on “the most dismal swamp that we can imagine.” Mr Manning said Papanui Bush was important as almost the only source of timber for the first settlers. “It is, therefore, important that we of the older generation take the opportunity! of informing the rising generation of just what this piece of land stood for. Plaques and monuments such as this memorial board can help us to preserve for future generations the meaning of the past.” Mr Manning then unveiled the memorial, a rectangular blue wooden board standing on six foot wooden supports and inscribed in white with the following words: “Papanui Bush—When European settlers first arrived, a swamp forest of about 90 acres extended south-west and northeast about this spot, from Langdons road to Northcote road. It was one of the few remnants of bush on the Canterbury Plains. By 1857 bushmen and pit-sawyers had cleared most of it to supply Christchurch with timber and firewood.” An accompanying diagram outlines in black the extent of the former bush in relation to present Papanui. and the circular metal plague of the Historic Places Trust surmounts the board. Others attending the ceremony included Cr. W. S. Mac Gibbon representing the Christchurch City Council, members of the Papanui Domain Board, and of the Historic Places Trust, old residents of the district and members of the public.