Waitaki Street in the suburb of Bexley Red Zone, Christchurch

Waitaki Street in Bexley Red Zone – High Street was incorporated into Wai-iti Street and both were incorporated into Waitaki Street. High Street first appears in street directories in 1916. Wai-iti Street first appears in street directories in 1921. High Street was incorporated into Wai-iti Street in February 1933 by the Public Utilities Committee of the Heathcote County Council. It was re-named Waitaki Street the next month as there was an existing Wai-iti Terrace in Fendalton. Waitaki Street first appears in street directories in 1934.

A reasonable amount of information from the library website. A wee bit of information on Papers Past but mostly death notices. I found the same information about the name change for the street. At least one drowning but this was something that this area was a bit prone to being so close to the river. Flooding was another frequently problem. For some reason minor fires was a problem on this street. The corner of Waitaki St and Pages Road had a lot of accidents. There was a big write up in 1974 about a development called Kirklands Estate where 310 houses would be built including on this street. This never happened because of a change in government. The playground in Harold Henry Park gets a few mentions. I also found a more recent article online about the playground equipment in the park. Various organisations for children wanted to take the playground equipment and utilise it elsewhere but the council wouldn’t allow this. After about four years the organisations were told that the equipment wasn’t safe because of the lack of maintenance and it was destroyed. The organisations were a bit vocal about this.

I started my walk at the Wetlands Grove end of Harold Henry Park and the path takes you to Waitaki Street. I finish my walk at Pages Road as I can’t walk the rest of the road. Waitaki Street between Pages Road and Bexley Road it blocked off by high fences. Looking at street view from 2007 the houses here covered most decades especially between 1950s and 1970s. There were about three art deco houses and a couple of 1920s wooden villas. It looked like it had been a pleasant street with some nice gardens.