Flinders Road in the Heathcote Valley, Christchurch

Flinders Rd in Heathcote Valley – Named after John Flinders Scott (1876-1941). Scott, a pastoral farmer of Opawa, was a member of the Heathcote County Council for twelve years. First appears in street directories in 1955. A small amount of information from the library website. Papers Past had an article in 1942 about John Flinders Scott’s widow donating 20 acres for a reserve in the Port Hills to be called John Flinders Scott Reserve as a memorial to him. He was described as having a keen botanical knowledge and was associated with the Port Hills for his whole life. As the reserve was said to be above the Summit Road and included two hill tops. I am not sure where it was as the current Scott Valley Reserve is below the Summit Road. John Flinders Scott is buried at Bromley cemetery and the funeral left from his residence Hawford in Opawa. Cemetery database gives his age as 65 years old at his death and occupation sheep farmer. He was born in Heathcote in 1876 and his father Harry was born in Tasmania. His grandfather Captain Richard Scott was born in Scotland and after spending time in Tasmania eventually settled in both Nelson and Timaru. Captain Richard Scott has a brig called Spray which made frequent trips between New Zealand and Australia. I actually walked this street in November 2020 after a geocaching event at the Gondola. As I had walked up to the Gondola for the event I must have done a huge number of steps that day. Assuming that the valuation website is correct most houses seem to have been built in 1970s and 1980s with one built in 1950. There seem to be houses that are more modern but these are possibly rebuilds. The houses had such a variety of styles meant it wasn’t a boring street to walk. No footpath but wasn’t a lot of traffic. As a person who was born in Lyttelton the hills were my playground and I remember watching the road tunnel road being built. Heathcote developed as a suburb once the road tunnel opened and I know that many Lyttelton people retired in Heathcote.