Flaxon Place in Burwood- Named because of an association of the name with swamps or wetlands. A subdivision developed off Kingsbridge Drive by Enterprise Homes on the opposite side of Travis Road to the Travis Wetland Nature Heritage Park. Flaxon Fells was the first name suggested. Named in 2006.A small amount of information from the library website and nothing that I can add to this. This street runs from Kingsbridge Drive to a wee park that takes to to a street called Kingsbridge West. There are 27 houses here and they all look very new but valuation website had several built pre earthquake. None of the houses looked like they were more than a couple of years old. The houses mostly just had lawns and no gardens. There was a mixture of styles so at least it wasn’t a row of identical houses.

Azure Place in Burwood- Named in 1999. A tiny amount of information from the library website. I couldn’t find anymore information about this street. It is now in the red zone and looks like there were only about 6 houses here. There was a news article about a man being being arrested in 2013 for arson in this street. Houses badly damaged by the earthquakes were a prime target for vandals. The street ran off Brooker Ave and is fenced off to stop cars from driving here.

Convoy St in New Brighton- Formerly Waverley Street. Named after “Waverley” a novel written by Sir Walter Scott. Re-named Convoy Street. A convoy is a group of vehicles (of any type, but usually motor vehicles or ships) travelling together for mutual support. Waverley Street is first mentioned in The Press in 1897 when a petition from five ratepayers asking the New Brighton Borough Council to take over Waverley Street was referred to the Works Committee. First appears in street directories in 1906. Re-named Convoy Street on 1 September 1948 when 120 streets were re-named. This name continues the theme of naming streets in New Brighton after British Admirals, explorers and fighting seafarers. A reasonable of information from the library website and nothing that I can add to the naming of the street. Papers Past had very few entries for this street. Found a few entries 1897 where the residents requested the council to take over the street. The rest of the entries were mostly birth and death notices. There was also a Waverley St in Sydenham. Only 10 properties in this street and most are from 1980s apart from two houses from 1905. The two older houses were wooden villas that had been modified. There was a car park for the fire station which was on the corner of Convoy St and Hawke St.

Stening Place in Burwood – Named in 1996.The library website entry was extremely brief. I couldn’t find out how this street got it’s name. I found several people with the surname Stening but none that lived in this area. The name that came up most frequently in Papers Past was George Stening but he lived in the Sumner and Redcliffs area. He was heavily involved in the YMCA plus a Missionary Society. There was also Alfred Stening a publican but mostly in the central city area. He eventually moved to Australia in the 1890s. I searched ancestry website with no luck. This street is now in the red zone and the street view of this street from before the earthquakes showed a very pleasant street.

Belair Close in Burwood – Named after Belinda Blair. Kevin and Judy Blair bought a horse paddock off New Brighton Road for their daughter’s horse in the early 1980s and later subdivided the land. Judy Blair was a well known netball coach in the late 1960s and her daughter, Belinda, became a Silver Fern netball player. First appears in street directories in 1993.”Dunair Estates” The Press, 16 April 1997, p 19A small amount of information from the library website and I couldn’t find any information online about this street. I will need to go into the library to read the relevant Press article. This street is in the red zone and there are no longer any houses here. From google maps it looks like there were about 11 or 12 brick houses. The area was very wet and swampy underfoot and I was geocaching nearby.

Schumacher Place in Burwood – Named after Edith Amelia Donnell, née Schumacher, (1904-1982). Edith Donnell and her husband, Horace Alexander Donnell (1903?-1965), farmed the land where this street was formed for many years. They bought their land from Edmund Norcross Corser (1840-1901). Named in 2005. A small amount of information from the library website and it is only partly correct. I found very little information on Papers Past. There was a birth notice dated 1933 when Horace and Edith Donnell had a child. Their address was 389 Old New Brighton Road. The electoral rolls gave their address as 389 New Brighton Rd. Horace did farm this land and was described as a dairy farmer but he didn’t buy this land from Edmund Corser. Horace’s father William purchased the land from Edmund Corser. William and his wife Alice both lived at 389 New Brighton Rd and farmed the land. William died in 1944. Living on the same block of land at 341 New Brighton Rd was Ivan Henry Donnell. Ivan was born in 1910 and was Horace’s younger brother. Ivan died in 1997 and the land was subdivided after this date. This tiny street is in the red zone and there are no longer any houses here. Looking at old google maps of the street it looks like it was a pleasant street to live on with only about 5 to 6 houses.

Elsie Street in Halswell and it is too new to be on the library website. Information from council website. Elsie Street – William and Elsie lived at Murphys Road from about 1920 and had two sons while they were there. They farmed wheat and potatoes and milked cows. The milk was sold in Christchurch.Road names have been requested by Alan Ye for roads at the Cloverden subdivision on the corner of Halswell Junction Road and Murphys Road. The road names have been chosen in accordance with the theme of a historic connection to the Murphy family who landed in New Zealand in 1866 and farmed the property until recently. There is nothing that I can add to this information. The houses were fairly boring and all looked alike but you know how I feel about modern houses. So new that there weren’t any proper gardens but some had tiny lawns. One side of the street bordered a really cool playground.

Blue Jacket Drive in Halswell and the street is too new to be on the library website but found information on the council website. From the council website. Blue Jacket Drive – The name of the ship Ellen O’Driscoll (Conailus wife) arrived in Canterbury on. Road names have been requested by Alan Ye for roads at the Cloverden subdivision on the corner of Halswell Junction Road and Murphys Road. The road names have been chosen in accordance with the theme of a historic connection to the Murphy family who landed in New Zealand in 1866 and farmed the property until recently. When I walked the street on Wednesday many of the houses on this street were having open days as most of the houses are still for sale. Interesting that they give Ellen’s surname as O’Driscoll as the shipping records have her surname as Driscoll. Ellen was 27 years old when she came out to New Zealand with her sister Hannah Driscoll. Hannah was aged 18. Both were domestic servants. The ship left Gravesend on 14th July 1866 and arrived at Lyttelton on 14th October 1866. The Blue Jacket was lost in March 1869 when the cargo of flax caught fire. The ship was off the Falkland Islands and 9 survivors were rescued and they managed to save the gold that was on board. The figurehead from the ship was found 21 months later washed ashore on Rottnest Island near Freemantle. That was a distance of 6000 miles / 9700 km from where the ship was lost.

Skibbereen Drive in Halswell and the street is too new to be on the library website. Information from the council website – The town in Ireland where Ellen Murphy (wife of Conailus) came from. Road names have been requested by Alan Ye for roads at the Cloverden subdivision on the corner of Halswell Junction Road and Murphys Road. The road names have been chosen in accordance with the theme of a historic connection to the Murphy family who landed in New Zealand in 1866 and farmed the property until recently. This street is so new that it hasn’t finished being built and part of it was blocked off by workmen. Part of the street is next to the cool looking playground. I had to be very discreet in looking for a nearby geocache because of the workmen. Because the houses are so new they just didn’t have any character. Skibbereen means little boat harbour and the area is also well known for it’s famine history.

Mardyke Street in Halswell and it is too new to be on the library website. Information from the council website. From Skibbereen Township in Ireland, the district where the family originated. Road names have been requested by Alan Ye for roads at the Cloverden subdivision on the corner of Halswell Junction Road and Murphys Road. The road names have been chosen in accordance with the theme of a historic connection to the Murphy family who landed in New Zealand in 1866 and farmed the property until recently. This street only had a couple of houses on it and I suspect that it will be extended but that land is still a paddock. I was actually walking down Conailus St when I saw the sign for this street. It actually looks like part of Conailus St. I asked a local and he hasn’t realised that there was a different street name. I searched Mardyke and found an area in Cork City but it was at least 79 to 85 km in distance from Skibbereen. More googling and I found a Mardyke Street in Skibbereen. This street has a heritage museum plus many older buildings. I couldn’t find the link between the Mardyke in Skibbereen and Mardyke in Cork City. My best guess is that Edward Webber who owned the land in Cork City also had land in Skibbereen. The Mardyke area was originally called Meer Dyke after Meer Dyke in Amsterdam and Edward Webber constructed the original dyke in 1719. Seems appropriate somehow that there is a street here named after a dyke that was built to drain marshy land.