Kennedys Bush Road in the suburb of Halswell, Christchurch

Kennedys Bush Rd in Halswell – Formerly Quarry Road. Named because it is the route to the Halswell Quarry. Also named Paterson Avenue. Named after Edward Paterson (1870?-1956). Re-named Kennedys Bush Road. Named after Thomas Kennedy (1819- 1881). Originally a track which was used by bullock drays to draw firewood etc. out of Kennedy’s Bush and Hoon Hay Bush. Quarry Road first appears in street directories in 1903. By 1914 it has the alternate name of Patersons Avenue. Paterson, a Old Tai Tapu Rd quarry manager, is a resident. The two names both appear in street directories until 1958 when it becomes just Paterson Avenue. Kennedys Bush Road first appears in street directories in 1939. Paterson Avenue appears in street directories until 1970 when it is incorporated into Kennedys Bush Road. Kennedy purchased eleven hectares of native forest there in 1856.

A reasonable amount of information from the library website. There were several entries for Quarry Road and there were many different Quarry Roads in Christchurch. The cost for forming the road in 1874 was £220. In 1890 the Halswell Quarry Company complained about the state of the road. In 1906 Mr Pitcaithly was granted permission to erect telephone poles on the street. In 1917 there was a death notice for Alfred Streeter and Thomas Kennedy was married to Sophie Streeter. In 1928 there was an article by F W M Blowers about when he arrived in New Zealand in 1863. He stayed with the Mumford family as he found out that Thomas Kennedy had moved from the bush that was named after him. He had moved to the foothills near the Halswell Quarry which was known as Brittan’s Quarry those days. In 1948 a house occupied by E W Gilder was broken into. In 1964 the Halswell Post Office Telephone Exchange is to be built on the Post Office site on Quarry Rd. Note I previously found articles saying that the Post Office site was on corner Paterson Ave and Sparks Rd. Both Quarry Rd and Paterson Ave seemed to be used for the road for several decades. The earliest entry that I found for the Paterson Ave name was 1914 where a building site was for sale. Both Quarry Rd and Paterson Ave ran from Sparks Rd to the bottom of the hill. Kennedys Bush Rd seemed to have been used for the hill part of the road from as early as 1927. The reserve which is now Halswell Quarry Park was suggested in 1953. Residents in 1955 requested a footpath for the road. There was a proposal in 1979 to close Kennedys Bush Rd at the intersections of Sparks Rd and Halswell Rd but this was rejected. In 1910 there was an event called The Battle of Halswell which took place above Kennedys Bush Rd. It was a mock battle staged for the visit of Lord Kitchener.

I walked this street in two parts. I walked the hill part earlier in the week and then the flat part yesterday. Houses date from 1920s onwards. There was a house built in 1920 and another built in 1930 but I couldn’t see them as they were down long driveways. Being a long street there was a variety of building styles. A few houses were looking rundown and a couple looked abandoned. Starting from Sparks Rd end then is a block of shops, a bit further along there is Halswell School. Near the school there is a block of cottages that look like pensioner cottages. Houses are also being built where there used to be a tennis court. Once past Glovers Rd there used to be houses on only side of the road but now there is a huge subdivision on the other side of the road. A huge number of trees have been cut down because of this subdivision. Just before the start of the hill there is the flat part of Halswell Quarry Park. There are a few entrances to the Halswell Quarry Park on this road. At the top of the road there used to be an entrance to Kennedys Bush Track but it is blocked off at the moment. I hope that they aren’t planning on building more houses on the track. When I was in a tramping club we used to occasionally walk this track and there used to parking at the top of the road. The track also used to start further down the road but there are now houses here.