Freyberg Avenue in the suburb of Riccarton, Christchurch

Freyberg Ave in Riccarton – Formerly Godley Avenue. Named after John Robert Godley (1814- 1861). Re-named Freyberg Avenue. Named after Sir Bernard Cyril Freyberg (1889- 1963). Godley was a lawyer, writer, administrator, coloniser and public servant. “The street in the new Riccarton subdivision on Mr John Brown’s subdivision which runs off Deans Avenue near the saleyard was named Godley Avenue by the Riccarton Borough Council” on 2 September 1929. Godley Avenue first appears in street directories in 1930. Re-named Freyberg Avenue in 1941. Freyberg was a dentist, military leader, governor general. [Wavell Street was originally suggested as the new name but councillors felt there was danger of confusion with Darvel Street.] A reasonable amount of information from the library website. Found the same information about the subdivision on John Brown’s land. In November 1929 the Chief Postmaster of Christchurch wrote to the Riccarton Borough Council requesting that they change the name as there was already a Godley Ave in Northcote Settlement (Papanui). Council declined as they didn’t think it was an issue. Papers Past had a few birth notices. Mention of a miniature golf course on the corner of Godley Ave and Deans Ave. In 1944 Tristan Toy Company’s factory was badly damaged by a fire. I didn’t think that I would have any luck finding out about John Brown as it is a very common name. Not helped by Queen Victoria’s John Brown being mentioned a lot. I managed to narrow his death down to the 1930s by checking cemetery database and I found his obituary dated October 1935. John Brown was born in 1854 at Monkwearmouth and he came to New Zealand as a child with his parents. They arrived in November 1858 on the ship Indiana. The family settled at Port Levy when John’s father and uncle set up a ship building yard. John and his father eventually came to Christchurch where they set up a timber merchant business. John Brown lived in Addington where he was very active in local body affairs and was mayor of Sydenham in 1895 to 1896. John then purchased part of the Washbourne Estate. He then became mayor of Riccarton for several terms and the obituary made special mention of him being mayor during 1918 influenza outbreak. John Brown was living at 48 Petrie St in Richmond when he died. I am fairly sure that I walked this street in April last year during lockdown as I wanted to get a photo of Riccarton Road without traffic. I managed to get photos of several major roads during that period and it was strange to be able to stand in the middle of these roads to get photos. Note this walk was within 2 km of my house. There are only 33 properties here and most built in 1970s but the valuation website gives several properties dated 2020. When googling I saw ads for the new properties and I suspect that some older houses have been knocked down and multi dwellings built on the land. There should still be 2 or 3 houses from 1920s and 1930s here. I will have to walk the street again to confirm this. It actually looked like a pleasant street but I wouldn’t touch the new buildings as they are being built by a developer that I personally don’t trust.