Urunga Avenue in the suburb of Strowan, Christchurch

Urunga Ave in Strowan- Formerly Hancocks Road. Named after Thomas Hancock (1813?-1898). Re-named Urunga Road. Named after Urunga, the house at 51 Normans Road owned by Samuel Rollin Webb (1848- 1933). Urunga means: a place of Peace. Hancocks Road first appears in street directories in 1903. Hancock was a grocer, soap manufacturer and brewer. He bought land in Normans Road in 1879. After his death, his daughters, Julia (1854-1934) and Emily Clara (1857?-1937), stayed on in the family home in Hancocks Road until 1927.Re-named Urunga Avenue in 1927. It is described as “a new road known as Urunga Avenue” in The Press in 1927. It was formed by Samuel Webb. Webb was a mayor of Lyttelton who moved to 51 Normans Road in 1913. A small amount of information from the library website and I can’t find any evidence that there was a Hancock’s Rd. I checked maps for 1912 and 1929 and also Papers Past. On Papers Past there was an ad in 1926 for Hancock’s Rd off Normans Rd. If it was named Hancock’s Rd it can’t have been for very long and wasn’t an official name. Thomas Hancock’s residence in electoral rolls was Norman’s Lane until 1890 when he was living on Normans Rd. His daughters on the electoral rolls have Normans Rd as an address until 1928 when they both used Hancock’s Lane. Julia and Emily Clara Hancock were both living at 56 Bellvue Rd when they died. Papers Past in 1927 had entries about sections being sold at auction and it was described as a new road known as Urunga Ave. Other ads describe the street as a new beautiful formed road. The street was in a subdivision called Normanston subdivision. In January of 1927 there were ads for the tender for the road formation on behalf of S R Webb. In 1933 there were sections on St Andrews Terrace and Urunga Ave available due to the winding up of an estate. The year 1938 saw a few state houses built on the street. Between the years 1930s to 1960s the street featured in the best street and gardens competitions and it came second in 1961 in the best street competition. In 1934 Royston preparatory school and kindergarten was mentioned and it was at 25 Urunga Ave and this is the only time it is mentioned. Walnut trees must have been common in this area as in 1959 some residents complained about the walnut trees and wanted them removed. I didn’t see any walnut trees so they must have succeeded in getting them removed. Samuel Rollin Webb lived at 51 Normans Rd and google maps show that there is still a house there but I need to go back and confirm that it is standing as it is google maps from 2019. Samuel Rollin came to NZ with his parents on the ship Regina in 1859. His obituary said his parents came out with 11 children but the shipping records show 7 children. The street has a couple of houses from every decade from 1920 to 2020 except for 1930s where there are 6 houses. There are some lovely houses on this tree lined street but spoiled by the ugly modern houses. It did look like a pleasant street to live on.