Bickerton’s Wainoni (Bickerton Reserve)

[After visiting Bickerton’s Reserve, you can backtrack to Porritt Park or head north along Wainoni Road and turn left into Avonside Drive, to reconnect with the river.]

Anana! Wow! Truth is often stranger than fiction, don’t you agree? 

Certainly when it comes to Professor Alexander Bickerton, after whom this reserve and a nearby street are named. 

I’m  a long-time feathered resident of the area but it surprised me no end to find out about what Bickerton helped create in the wider neighbourhood. 

Until recently, I never knew that exotic animals – yes, big scary lions and other such animals – were housed in a zoo at nearby Wainoni Park. (The Aranui Library is there now; imagine looking up from your book to find a yawning lion outside the library window!)

The zoo was part of Bickerton’s estate ‘Wainoni’, a name that refers to the bend or turn in the river that you can see across the road. Originally the river coursed around what is now Porritt Park. A straighter section called ‘The Cutting’ (now known as Kerrs Reach) was artificially created for drainage and then widened in 1949-50 for rowing races during the Canterbury Centennial Games. 

As you can read on the history panel, Bickerton had many novel ideas for his estate. These included a commune (New Zealand’s second communal living site)! A theme park! Everything from fireworks displays to a huge amphitheatre and mock naval battles!  

Some of his experimental ideas appealed to students at Canterbury College – the precursor of the University of Canterbury – where he was the founding professor of chemistry. He was a fairly controversial figure during his lifetime and is labelled by Te Ara Dictionary of New Zealand as  an “eccentric”. Do you agree?

Perhaps less avant-garde were a sanatorium for treating the lung disease tuberculosis (TB) and the provision of a weekend campground for Boy Scouts.

Are you ready to continue exploring the trail? Watch out for any tigers and elephants! 

Next steps: 

Can you locate the commemorative plaques in the reserve. What do they say?

What imaginative, creative ideas would you put in place if money and resources were no obstacle? 

Links:

More about Bickerton

 https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2b23/bickerton-alexander-william