Avon Loop Christchurch East Project

Hi from your pīwakawaka ‘fan-trail’ mascot! 

As you make your way from the central city to the Avon Loop, what do you notice? There are reminders and legacies of many people and events.

Businessman Thomas Edmonds (1858-1932), famous for the iconic New Zealand cookbook and the manufacture of ‘Sure to Rise’ baking powder, funded some of the riverside stone structures you pasty. These include the band rotunda (rebuilt after the earthquakes) near Ōtākaro Orchard, the clock tower and the nearby ‘telephone‘cabinet’ (in the days before mobiles!). 

At the corner of Kilmore and Madras Streets (near the fire station) is a large, sombre sculpture made up of twisted metal girders. It commemorates the rescue efforts of firefighters and others during the World Trade Centre tragedy of 2001, when the famous 110-storey twin towers in New York were destroyed. 

Local history is described in two panels beside the river on Oxford Street (just before you cross over Barbadoes Street going east). A decorated metal panel describes how the city got its Te Reo Māori name, Ōtautahi. It also tells the story of early colonial transportation up the Avon Ōtākaro River. What role does the river play in our city now? How meaningful is the river to you?

Further along, in the now grassy and green Avon Loop, a photo panel highlights noteworthy former residents of the dismantled suburb. How many of these locals do you recognise or know about?

Avon Ōtākaro Network, with help from the Avon Loop Planning Association and local tamariki, have installed a seat, a parkour area, and a soccer pitch in the vicinity. Kahikatea trees have been planted along the river edge, which benefit birds like me! Native plants also improve the water quality of the river by helping ‘reinforce’ the riverbank.

Avon Loop Planning Association are proposing a peace park, because peace advocate and social activist Elsie Locke once lived here. What do you think of that idea?

Let’s head along to the nearby #REDTOGREEN picture frame, near where Elsie used to live.

Links:

Peace park plans. https://sites.google.com/site/avonloop/home/peace-park-proposal

Maori atlas and place names

https://kahurumanu.co.nz/atlas

Thomas Edmonds

https://my.christchurchcitylibraries.com/thomas-j-edmonds/