Auster Ave – Named after Auster Aircraft Limited, a British aircraft manufacturer 1938- 1961. In the Wigram Skies subdivision at the former Wigram Air Force Base where the street names are either those of aircraft, or the names of the first 100 students at the Flight School established by Sir Henry Wigram in 1917. Named in 2012.A reasonable amount of information from the library website and not a lot that I can add to it. I did find out that the RNZAF operated 7 Auster aircraft between 1947 and 1969. Only 8 properties on this street built 2014, 2015 and 2018. This is a small street and I always associate the word avenue with streets that are wide and long. There are several avenues in Wigram that don’t fit my idea of an avenue.The houses were mostly brick with weatherboard style of cladding. Gardens were immaculate with lawns and well clipped small trees and shrubs.

Vale Tce – Named after Noel Lancelot St Elmo Vale (1898- 1981). Vale was a motor engineer of Riccarton. He graduated from the Canterbury Flying School on 7 May 1918. In the Wigram Aerodrome subdivision by Ngāi Tahu Property Ltd where the street names are either of aircraft or taken from the list of the first 100 students at the Flight School established by Sir Henry Wigram in 1917. Named in 2012.A reasonable amount of information from the library website but there is far more to this man. I spend ages researching ancestry website and Papers Past. Information from Great Britain Royal Aero Certificate has his address as Waimari Rd in Christchurch. He was born in Christchurch 26th December 1898 and his occupation was motor engineer. Trained in a Caudron Biplane and he received his certificate on 7th May 1918. He married Muriel Ellen Steel in June 1921 at t Marys Church in Addington. Sadly she died 31st May 1935 aged 36 years. He remarried in 1936 to Coral Burns Elliott but I couldn’t find out very much about Coral but she was possibly born in the UK and was possibly a dental nurse. Unable to find out when she died or where buried. Noel died on 3rd October 1981 and he is buried in Linwood. He was a cars salesman and was fairly well known in Christchurch. There are frequent mentions in Papers Past and mostly for driving offences. June 1917 for riding a motor cycle without lights. In 1934 he was fined for driving while intoxicated and also in fined for similar offence in 1935. In 1937 he was fined for overtaking on an intersection. He was descibed as a salesman of 78 Forfar St. The best would be the article in the Truth in October 1930 where he tried passing a tram on the wrong side of the tram and ended up wedged under the tram. He claimed that he had been driving for 16 years and never had an accident before. There was a headline of 8 whiskies but not drunk. Two police doctors say that they found him intoxicated but Noel was acquitted. Headline said Prominent aviator acquitted on charge of insobriety in motor car. He was described as a motor salesman for a well known city firm and prominent aviator and a popular man about town. The same article mentions Noel suffering from nerves after a plane crash a year earlier where he had to avoid children in a park. So many articles about the plane crash with some interesting headlines. Apparently Noel had been doing some stunts in the plane and the engine stopped mid air. He couldn’t land in the park as children were playing there so he ended up crash landing in a nearby ploughed paddock. It was Barrington Park where he was unable to land because of the children. The plane was a write off but he escaped with minor injuries. The street itself has 14 properties built between 2015 to 2018. A couple of interesting styles but the street is boring compared to the man it was named after. I had huge fun researching Noel Vale and I thought that I had a photo of his gravestone but searched my photos but couldn’t find it. With such an unusual name I would have expected that I would have noticed the gravestone but Linwood cemetery is in such a bad state of repair.

Roy Place in Harewood and here is nothing on the library website or anywhere else about this street. It is on google maps and there is a signpost saying Roy Place. I can’t find out any information about it. It runs off Orchard Rd and circles around the Antarctic Centre.

Firth Place in Burnside. First appears in street directories in 1976. A tiny amount of information from the library website. I couldn’t find any information about how the street was named. I searched the ancestry website for anyone with the surname Firth to have lived on Memorial Ave but nothing. There were several people with surname Frith living in Christchurch but none living in this area that I could find. Another nearby street has a Scottish name and the blurp for that street said it was in keeping with the Scottish theme for Burnside so it is possible that it received the name because it is perceived to be Scottish. There could be a connection to whoever developed the street. It looks like the street was developed at 259, 261 and 263 Memorial Ave and the houses date from 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. There is a footpath on both sides of the street so it had to be an older street. There are only 11 houses and they are all made from brick.

Memorial Ave – An extension of Fendalton Road. Burnside Road. Fendall Town Road was cut through Rural Section 18, 50 acres in Fendall Town purchased by W. C. Fendall. First mentioned in The Lyttelton Times in 1857. Fendalton Road is first mentioned in The Press in 1864 and first appears in street directories in 1894. At that time Fendalton Road extended into what became Burnside Road (later Memorial Avenue). Burnside Road is first mentioned in The Press in 1903 in a report of a meeting of the Riccarton Road Board. Re-named Memorial Avenue on 14 December 1956. It was dedicated in 1959 to the memory of the men and women of the New Zealand armed forces who gave their lives in World War II.A reasonable amount of information from the library website but it doesn’t say why it was named Burnside Road. My best guess is that one of the early settlers in this area was from Burnside in Scotland. Several mentions on Papers Past and there were sections for sale in 1907 and 1908 as well as 1927 and 1946. Land for at least two domains were discussed in 1934. In 1906 the road was widened and shingled. In May 1945 there was support for a Memorial Avenue in Burnside Road from Harewood aerodrome for a distance of 2 or 3 miles. Avenue to be two chains wide which was an increase of one chain. A number of landowners agreed to give land for the widening. There were a couple of objections and one was because the the potential for a bottleneck at the Fendalton Rd end. The second objection was about the golf course losing land. In June 1945 they talked about the memorial being for fallen airmen but the two plaques at ither end of the Avenue both state that it is for fallen servicemen.This is a long road and it took me an hour and a half to walk it. At the airport end there are at least three plaques as well as the spitfire and the Totem Pole. With all the businesses in the area including a supermarket they don’t stand out as well as they used. They are a familiar sight for returning travellers. Then there is the new overbridge which is an interesting design. Once past the bridge there is the golf course on one side and on the other side a huge section of empty land. This land was in the news recently because it has a new owner who is going to develop the land. Yet the previous owner wanted to develop the land but had problems with consents. Then there are 2 or 3 hotels and at least one of them is currently an isolation hotel. A little bit further on is Avice Hill Reserve. The houses on this street date from the 1920s and cover every decade since. The ones built in the 1920s and 1930s are hard to see as they are behind well established trees and gardens. There is a huge mixture of designs but the one that stood out was a dome house. I have frequently driven on this road and can’t believe that I have never noticed this house before. Just shows that you see so much more when walking. The house dates from about 1980 and there is a photo of it from 1983 on the discovery wall at the library. There is Burnside Park along here and it is huge and further along there are a couple of smaller parks. Just before Grahams Rd the street sign used to have large Pac Man stickers but sadly they have now gone. I quite liked them so disappointed that they have gone. They were there for several years. A few shops but most are at the Fendalton Rd end including a supermarket. Both Burnside Primary School and Burnside High School are bordered by Memorial Ave. There is one lonely Art Deco house near the supermarket. I took a lot of photos here.

Lothian Street in Ilam. Named after East and West Lothian in Edinburgh. Named to continue the Scottish theme of street names in Burnside. First appears in street directories in 1900 running through to Tay Street (later part of Hamilton Avenue. A small amount of information from the library website. The street runs off Memorial Ave There are 37 houses here and they date from 1920 but most are built 1950s and 1960s. None of the houses stood out for me and I would never have picked that any were earlier than the 1970s. Most looked OK but a few were looking tired and rundown. Suspect it might be a few rentals aimed at students here. Not much information on Papers Past and it was mostly ads for a William Vernall who was a tinsmith living on the street. I couldn’t find anything earlier than 1915. Two sad death notices for the same woman. She had a son killed in WWI and then a son die in 1918 from the influenza.

Waygreen Ave in New Brighton / Red Zone. This street wasn’t on the library website and I couldn’t find a reason for the name. The street is mentioned in the media and the are photos of the houses on UC QuakeStudies. It looks like most of the houses were built in the 1990s so they weren’t old houses when demolished. The street ran from New Brighton St to Atlantis St. I found a description of the street on Stuff website called interactives.stuff. “It was a little street and whimsical by design and old English style lamps adorned the footpaths.” Some of the lamps are still there. This area suffered badly from liquefaction and it is now badly overgrown

Pennyburn Place in New Brighton / Red Zone. Name approved in 1996 but not used until 2000. A tiny amount of information from the library website. I couldn’t find any information about the reason for the name. The developers were Rookwood Holdings which was owned by the late Warner Mauger and he had a daughter Penny. There is a place in Ireland called Pennyburn but I couldn’t find any Irish connection for the Mauger family as their ancestors came from Guernsey. I couldn’t find any information about this street from either before or after the earthquakes.The houses have all been demolished here as this area was affected badly by liquefaction. Remains of garden shrubs and trees. I was geocaching in this area today

Cerbera Close in New Brighton / Red Zone – Named after the TVR Cerbera Speed 12, a high performance concept car designed by TVR in 1997 Named in 2000. A small amount of information from the library website and nothing that I can add to this. The area was developed by Rookwood Holdings which is owned by the Mauger family and they were into cars. The houses would have probably been built in the 1990s but have now all been demolished as this area suffered badly from liquefaction. Couldn’t find any extra information about this street.

Chimera Crescent in New Brighton / Red Zone- Named after the TVR Chimaera, a two-seater convertible sports car manufactured by TVR 1992- 2003. Name approved in 1996 but not used until 2000A small amount of information from the library website. Nothing that I can really add as this area was developed by Rookwood Holdings which is owned by the Mauger family and they are into their cars. Note the name of the car is spelt slightly differently to the street. The council actually didn’t approve the name of this street as it was felt that it was too similar to Cerbera Close.Another street were I couldn’t find out any extra information and I suspect that most houses would have been built in the 1990s but have since been demolished. This area suffered badly from liquefaction. Part of this area has been planted with natives plants and there is a sign about the the project. Sadly there are also signs asking people not to steal the plants.