Rebecca Avenue in the suburb of Burwood, Christchurch

Rebecca Ave in Burwood – formerly Rebecca Lane. Named after Rebecca Brooker, née Jenner, (1819- 1887). Rebecca Brooker was a missionary nurse in the North Island and wife of Stephen. She was also a signatory to the Treaty of Waitangi. Rebecca Lane first appears in street directories in 1995. Becomes Rebecca Avenue post-1997. A small amount of information from the library website. I searched and searched and couldn’t find any evidence that Rebecca signed the Treaty Of Waitangi. Why would Rebecca be a signatory to the Treaty. I searched Papers Past but unable to find any entries for Rebecca. The ancestry website had a small amount of information but as usual many of the family trees had details but nothing to prove the information. Information from Addington Cemetery Tour Guide had the following information. Rebecca was born at Mereworth in Kent on 22nd October 1820. She was the daughter of a gardener and came to New Zealand in 1836 attached to the household of Rev J A Wilson. She was an interpreter between government and the Maori. Married Stephen Brooker at Methodist Mission Auckland on 13th December 1844. Couldn’t find marriage record. Wikipedia entry for Rev J A Wilson have him going to Australia in September 1832 on the ship Camden and then came to New Zealand in April 1833 on the ship Byron. This information differs from the Addington Cemetery Tour Guide information. I couldn’t find any information about Rev Wilson on Papers Past. There is a book about the Brooker Family History at the library but I would have to read it at the library. This street runs off Brooker Ave and there is no longer any houses here as it is in the red zone. Going by old google maps it looked like it was a lovely street. I was happy to find a colourful book fridge here and after chatting with a local I believe that it hasn’t been here for very long. There are bee hives here as well.