Collier Drive in the suburb of Halswell, Christchurch

Collier Drive in Halswell and too new for the library website. Information from the council website – Jean Collier was one of the first New Zealand women to own property in New Zealand. It would have saved me a lot of time if the council website had her correct name of Jeanie Collier. Last night I searched Ancestry and Papers Past with no luck and then by sheer luck I discovered her correct name. It was nearly midnight so I had another look this morning. Practically nothing on Ancestry and this would be because she was a single woman with no children. Found a few entries on Papers Past with her correct name. There is a Wikipedia page for her but it has very little information. The best information is at Te Ara – Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. She came to New Zealand via Australia aged about 63 and she was accompanied by three nephews and a brother. She took up a property in South Canterbury and is acknowledged as the first woman runholder in New Zealand. She is also supposed to have been the first white woman in the Waimate area. She died in September 1861 and sadly her nephews squandered their inheritance from their aunt. I found a couple of mentions online about her grave including Findagrave and I realised that I had visited her grave. there used to be a multi cache where you needed information from her gravestone. The grave is also what we would call a lonely grave. It is in a paddock down a long rural road in the back of beyond.

Why they decided to name a street after someone who had never lived in Christchurch I don’t know but I certainly seriously sidetracked researching Jeanie Collier. They possibly used this name because Jeanie was born in Scotland and John Miln who originally owned most of the land here was also from Scotland.

This is a fairly long road and the houses didn’t really stand out for me. At one end there are houses on both sides of the street but at the Sparks Road end the houses are only on one side of the street. The other side hasn’t been developed yet. At one spot there was an old looking parking area yet there wasn’t a road here before 2020. I drive down Sparks Road a lot and have watched this area change from farmland to housing subdivisions. Don’t get me started on about all the roadworks this year on Sparks Road in the area.