Aranoni Track in Clifton Bay / Clifton Hill. Nothing on the library website and it is a track rather than a street but the library has included other tracks on it’s website. It starts at Nayland St and finishes at Brownlee Park. There are 13 houses and two date from 1910 and two from 1920s and the others from 1980s and 1990s. It is impossible to see most of the houses here and I suspect that the garages at the bottom of the track on Nayland St belong to the houses. I don’t know the meaning of Aranoni and as there is a street with the name Aranoni in Wellington I am guessing that it is a Maori word. A quick google didn’t come up with anything. In the case of Aranoni Track it will be named after a property called Aranoni that was owned by the New Zealand artist Cranleigh Harper Barton who lived here from about 1930 until his death in 1975. He would rent it out whenever he was overseas which was fairly frequent. He did a long stint in England in the 1920s. He frequently had exhibitions of his work at his studio Aranoni which was described as being next to Mr Waller’s house. In 1934 there was a letter to the editor about the water supply on Aranoni Track asking if it was the source of illnesses in the Sumner area. It is a steep wee walk especially on a warm day but there are some great views of Sumner.

Mulgans Track in Clifton Bay / Clifton Hill. Nothing on the library website but it is a track rather than a street but the library does have other such tracks on it’s website. This track runs from Kinsey Tce to the Main Road and in early days was mentioned as being in Redcliffs. There are two properties here from 1940s and one from 1960s. Papers Past had a section for sale in 1943 and there was a house for sale in 1945. In 1918 someone obviously wanted a name change but the council reply was that they didn’t have the power to change the name. In 1915 there was mention of the track being a private right of way and that the council gave consent for this in 1911. In 1945 there seemed to be a lot of complaints and one was about drainage. The other complaints were about the state of the track and how difficult it was to walk. They wanted the council to upgrade the track. The council reply was that they have explained to the residents of the track many times that it is a private right of way that goes through Mr Mulgan’s subdivision and it is up to the residents to maintain the track and pay for this. I couldn’t find anyone of the surname living in the area but there was a family with that surname living in Christchurch from about 1905 to 1915. Edward Mulgan was a school inspector and he moved to the Wellington area. His son Alan eventually moved to Auckland. Another son went to the UK to live and died at Oxford. This was a family that moved frequently and had a Cashmere address when living in Christchurch but they possibly bought land to subdivide. In 1920 there was a request for the person who was stealing the grocery parcels from the cart to return the parcels. Because of the steep track I thought it was possible that there was a cart on rails for taking goods up the track.

The Zig Zag in Clifton Bay / Clifton Hill. Nothing on the library website but it is a track but the library website does have other tracks on it. The track is very short and runs off Aranoni Track. There are three properties here and one was built in 2000. It was impossible to see the houses because of trees. Probably called The Zig Zag because the track zig zags up the hill. I couldn’t find out any information about the track and it sounds like there was another road called the Zig Zag which was Evans Pass / Sumner Road area.

Tuawera Tce in Clifton Bay / Clifton Hill- Formerly Victoria Terrace. Named after HM Queen Victoria (1819- 1901). Re-named Tuawera Terrace. Tuawera is the name of the Cave Rock at Sumner. Victoria Terrace is first mentioned in The Press in 1926. First appears in street directories in 1940. Re-named Tuawera Terrace on 1 September 1948 when 120 streets were re-named. A small amount of information from the library website and nothing that I can say about the name Victoria. Not surprised that it got renamed as there was also a Victoria Terrace in Woolston. In Papers Past there wasn’t a lot of information but a couple of death notices in 1930s and 1940s. The street was named in 1917 in the Roll of Honour. I was amused that in 1923 a resident of the street was fined for allowing cows to wander. This was very common occurrence in early Christchurch. In 1927 it was mentioned that there were great views from the streets of Clifton Hill including from Victoria Tce. I got seriously sidetracking reading about Tuawera Rock which is now known as Cave Rock. In October 1898 under heading Maori Nomenclature someone thought we should be using the Maori names for places instead of using English names. Note this was written by a Pakeha. In January 1902 there was an article about interesting information in old maps and the use of Maori names. Found another article from Oct 1916 about places names and again it was someone who thought we should be using Maori place names. These writers were worried that we would lose the information once the older Maori who had this knowledge were no longer around.Found several meaning for Tuawera which all included the word fire. One meaning was the place where there was an accident by burning. Another meaning was destroyed by fire. The third meaning was cut down by fire referring to the many people who died by eating the flesh of a stranded whale. My personal favourite is Te Ake’s Revenge which I recommend googling and reading. The street itself has great views of Sumner and the sea. The houses cover most decades from 1910 to 2017 but most actually look fairly modern. I couldn’t see the house from 1920 and the one from 1910 looks extremely modern so I doubt that it is the original house. I couldn’t find the right of way that is supposed to lead down to Kinsey Tce. Great views but not sure I would like to live here after seeing what happened to houses in this area in the earthquakes.

Kinsey Tce in Clifton Bay / Clifton Hill – Formerly Alexandra Terrace. Named after HM Queen Alexandra (1844- 1925), consort of Edward VII. Re-named Kinsey Terrace. Named after Sir Joseph Kinsey (1852-1936). Alexandra Terrace first appears in street directories in 1941. Re-named Kinsey Terrace on 1 September 1948 when 120 streets were re-named. Kinsey was the founder of Kinsey & Co. a shipping firm. He acted as attorney for Captain Scott, and later, Sir Ernest Shackleton. The Scotts stayed at Kinsey’s home, Te Hau O Te Atuaa at 14 Kinsey Terrace, while in Christchurch in 1910, and from there Scott set off to the Antarctic. Kinsey was a keen gardener and his rockery was made of stone brought to New Zealand from Mount Erebus. A reasonable amount of information from the library website and not a lot that I can add about the names of the the street. There were a couple of sections for sale here in 1920. In 1913 it was recommended that a handrail be erected on the unprotected part of the footpath. In 1914 the road was to be widened and upgraded and in 1915 street lamps to be installed including one near Mr Kinsey’s property. In 1922 a telegraph pole was to be removed to make a clear turning for motor cars. This last one amused me as it is still a fairly tight corner as I watched someone have problems with this corner. In 1945 there were floodwaters which moved a house 3 feet. In 1926 it was decided to form a right of way between Alexandra Tce and Victoria Tce on the land owned by the council as a pipe reserve. I found the right of way on Kinsey Tce but the Tuawera Tce end feels like a private driveway. The library covered most of the relevant facts about Joseph Kinsey. He was born in Plumstead which is in an area where my Cave ancestors were from. He went to the Royal Naval College at Greenwich and came to NZ on the Jesse Readman in 1880. He was a personal friend of Robert Falcon Scott. Kinsey was living in Papanui when he died and for some reason he was taken to Wellington for burial and his wife is buried in Christchurch. He was also the Consul for Belgium. Most of the houses on this street are on the higher side of the road with many empty sections on the lower side of the road. The QV website had houses dating from every decade from 1920 onwards but I couldn’t see any of the older houses. The houses are very modern here and there was one huge house that I wish that I could have got a photo of. The houses here are rather beyond my budget. Great views.

Van Asch St – formerly Queen Street. Named after Gerritt van Asch (1836-1908). Queen Street first appears in street directories in 1914. Re-named van Asch Street on 1 September 1948 when 120 streets were re-named. Van Asch was the first principal of the School for the Deaf in 1880.A small amount of information from the library website and I can add nothing extra about the name of the street. I can see why the name of the street was changed as there were so many Queen Streets in New Zealand including 2 or 3 in Christchurch. Papers Past had thousands of entries for Queen Street mostly for the one in Auckland. The obituary for Gerritt van Asch said that he was the principal of the Deaf and Dumb Institute at Sumner until 1906. He arrived in New Zealand in 1879 and had studied teaching methods for the deaf in Europe and England. After he retired in 1906 he took an extended trip with his wife to Europe where he died in his birth country of Holland. The Deaf and Dumb Institute is now called Van Asch College and in on this street. The street runs from Colenso St to Paisley St with St Leonards Park splitting the street in half. The earliest entry on Papers Past that I found for this street was in 1898 where a resident was fined for wandering cattle. The houses here date from 1940 onwards with several built in 1950s. There are also several modern houses from between 2000 and 2020. A mixture of styles but none were especially notable but the bright yellow house that I thought belonged on Paisley St possibly has it’s address on Van Asch St.

Whitewash Head Rd – Named because the droppings from the seabirds have made the cliffs white. The need for a road to Whitewash Head was discussed by the Sumner Borough Council in 1901. First appears in street directories in 1950.A small amount of information from the library website. If searching Papers Past with the words Whitewash Head expect lots of entries involving bodies on rocks. I found the same report from the Sumner Borough Council dated 1901. There was also discussion in 1892 about formation of a road but that possibly meant the road that is now currently Taylors Mistake Rd. In 1895 there was discussion of a footpath that was 8 foot wide to be created. Mr S L Bell cut two zig zag paths on the hill up to Whitewash Head so that people could get good views of Sumner and the surrounding area. S L Bell was responsible for building Sumner Baths known as Bell’s Baths which were on the beach underneath Whitewash Head. It is noted in Papers Past that two houses were being erected on Whitewash Head in 1913.There are only 21 houses here and there is one dated from 1920 and a couple from 1930 but most are much later. It is a very narrow road with practically no parking available. The houses here have fantastic views.

Searidge Lane in Scarborough – formerly Pearson Lane. Pearson Lane first appears in street directories in 1993. Re-named Searidge Lane in 1995.A tiny amount of information from the library website. Searidge is a fairly obvious considering the lane sits above the sea near Whitewash Head. It didn’t keep the name Pearson for very long and my best guess is that Pearson was someone’s surname. I couldn’t find anyone with that surname living there and I checked 1960s and 1970s electoral rolls. There was a council inspector with that surname who lived in Sumner and possibly went to Sumner School but it is still guesswork on my part. I will confess that I didn’t actually walk this tiny lane but sometimes the private lane signs make it very clear that a random nosy woman isn’t welcome. Only 5 houses here built 1990s and 2000s. It leads off Taylors Mistake Road by Nicholson Park. They would have fantastic views here and I would imagine that it could get very windy.

Paisley St in Sumner – formerly Parke Street. Parke Street is first mentioned in The Press in 1904. First appears in street directories in 1927. Re-named Paisley Street on 1 September 1948 when 120 streets were re-named. A small amount of information from the library website. There were several Parke Streets in Christchurch so that explains the reason for the name change. My best guess for the Paisley name is that someone on the council was from Scotland or had a connection to Scotland. In Papers Past there were sections for sale in 1904 and 1909. A dangerous bridge was mentioned in 1916. In 1933 the street was described unformed and covered with short grass. The surrounding land was described as low lying. I did wonder if the street was originally a longer street but very little information on Papers Past. There are only 10 houses here and a couple are from 1910 and other decades were 1920, 1940, 1950 and 1990. I recommend sunglasses if looking at the house on the corner of Paisley and Van Asch Streets. It is painted such a bright yellow that I would expect it to glow at night. Another house on the corner of Wakefield Ave I can only describe as interesting. The occupier of that house had also dug up the council berm and planted vegetables. It had fresh manure on it and was rather smelly.

Nayland St – Named after Stokeby-Nayland, in south Suffolk, England. Nayland Street was the original road to Lyttelton. One of the Sumner street names connected with the Wakefield family. One of Edward Gibbon Wakefield’s sisters was married to the Rev. C. M. Torlesse, vicar of Stoke-by Nayland. Nayland Street is first mentioned in The Press in 1877 when a property for sale there is advertised. Land in Nayland Street in “the Township of Wakefield, Sumner Bay” is advertised for sale in the Star in 1880. First appears in street directories in 1910.A reasonable of information from the library website and nothing that I can add about the naming of the street. Stoke St is nearby. In Papers Past I found sections for sale in October and November 1877 and in December 1877 there was a call for tenders for the forming of the road. Sections were also available in 1906 and 1916. Both the Marine Hotel and the Masonic Hall were mentioned in 1940s. Found many ads from people looking for short term lets over the summer school holidays. This street runs from Heberden Ave to Marriner St and at the Wakefield Ave intersection area there are shops, cafes, library and a tiny skateboard park. This street still has many older houses dating from 1880 and most are in good condition. These older houses are gorgeous. There are a couple of the older houses looking very rundown. Houses date from most decades and there is an interesting curved shaped house from 1990s. There is a tall house from 2015 designed to get the best view of the sea. The street is only one block from Esplanade and I suspect most houses here would be well above my budget. The library on the corner of Nayland St and Wakefield Ave is only a few years old and has a foundation stone from 2017 plus the original one from 1907.