Domett Street in the suburb of Waltham, Christchurch

Domett St in Waltham – Formerly Goethe Street. Named after Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749- 1832). Re-named Domett Street. Named after Alfred Domett (1811- 1887). Goethe was a German playwright. Goethe Street is first mentioned in The Press in1886. First appears in street directories in 1911. Re-named Domett Street in 1917 at the request of residents. There was public dislike for German names during and after World War I. Domett was a journalist, politician, public servant, Premier and writer. A small amount of information from the library website. A few birth, death and marriage notices on Papers Past. Many reports about the petition for renaming the street in 1916 and 1917. Residents objected to the Teutonic name of their streets especially as neighbouring streets rejoice in names from great figures of British literature. Councillor McCombs argued against the name change and he pointed out that Goethe was Prussian and he lived when Prussia was an ally of Great Britain. He was outvoted. Council agreed to rename the street and renamed it in honour of Alfred Domett an English born New Zealand poet who was Premier of colony for a little over a year and he was a friend of Robert Browning. In 1900 there was another mention of Brightling’s gravel pit and the dumping of rubbish. It looks like Brightling’s property covered a big section between Bunyan St, Buffon St and Domett St. I walked this street on Friday and it is a short street that runs from Wilsons Rd and Bunyan St. Waltham Park is on one side of the street and 15 houses on the other side of the street. The oldest house is from 1910 and several from 1990. Waltham Park on the 1929 map has the name Opawa Park.