Introducing Waimakariri Heritage

Waimakariri Libraries recently launched their new site, Waimakariri Heritage.

This is a  permanent digital archive, which includes books, audio and video files, over 450 images, and an interactive map of the area. This project has been in the works for the past year, and the Waimakariri Libraries team have been working hard to get content onto the platform. 

Image: The Kairaki Camping Ground, 1968.

Waimakariri Heritage is a place to preserve memories and share them with the community. The Waimakariri Libraries team is looking forward to connecting with different groups in the community who want to learn about the area’s history and have memories to share. We are also excited about the potential for students and schools in the area to use the platform as part of the Aotearoa New Zealand Histories curriculum and would encourage student contributions. North Canterbury has a unique history, and the site will enhance connections to our past, present and future.

We are adding new stories and collections all the time and you can also contribute your own memories and comments by registering with the website. We would love your help to identify and name people and places in some of the images in the collection. You will also be able to share your stories – this can be a written memory, oral history or photographs of people, places, events etc. We would love to hear about life in the past and life today!

For further information please email library.heritage@wmk.govt.nz or phone (03) 311 8901.

Upcoming Event: The Canterbury Bibliotheca

Learn about the origins of some of Canterbury’s libraries and reading rooms. Damian Cairns, who cares for rare books and special collections in the Macmillan Brown Library, will share some gems from the University of Canterbury collection and explain the pivotal role The Canterbury Association, and its supporters, had in establishing libraries in Canterbury.

Items will be on display during the talk and if numbers / time permits there will be an opportunity for a tour of the stacks at the Macmillan Brown Library.

Where: University of Canterbury, Undercroft 101 (Beneath the Central Library on the Ilam Campus)

When: 2pm, Thursday November 2, 2023

RSVP: Please rsvp to cantage@gmail.com by 30th October

Parking: Paid parking is available on campus for visitors. Parking options and location of Library on map below.

The Lubeck Bible (1494) Gifted to the Canterbury Association by Arthur Philip Perceval.

Library (Puaka-James Hight) is circled and paid parking options marked.

History of the Chamber Gallery – Trevor Inch Memorial Library, Rangiora

The Chamber Gallery was part of the original Rangiora Borough Council building and home to the previous Rangiora District Library. The space has been incorporated into the Trevor Inch Memorial Library.

Content provided by Sally O’Connell, Waimakariri Libraries

The architect of the Chamber was Frederick John Barlow, who was born in Christchurch in 1868.

This building was the second Rangiora Borough Council Chambers, replacing an earlier one on the same site in 1907. It was built by local builders Arthur Vincent and John Golding at a cost of £1052. The building was designed by architect Frederick Barlow and it is his most substantial surviving work. It contained a Town Clerk’s office, a public office and a room for the Mayor – later the Electrical Engineer’s office. The first Council meeting to be held in the new Chambers was in June 1907, chaired by Mayor Edward Relph.

Designed in an ornamental classical style, an unusual design aspect of the building is the asymmetrical façade with the front door placed off-centre. One of the most notable features of the Chambers is the beautiful leadlight ceiling dome.

Built by local builders, Arthur Vincent and John Golding, for £1052 it also contained a Town Clerk’s office (now the small meeting room), a public office and a room for the Mayor – later the Electrical Engineer’s office (now occupied by the Citizens Advice Bureau). The Mayor Edward Relph presided over the first Council meeting held there in June 1907.

The building was used as the Council Chambers until 1966, when the Rangiora Library and the Council swapped places and the Council moved into the Rangiora Town Hall. In 1977 a five metre extension was added to the back of the library, but the building became increasingly inadequate as Rangiora and the surrounding district’s population grew. The building was almost threatened with demolition, but it was retained by a narrow vote of the Council in favour of incorporating it into the new library building and using the space as an art gallery. The Trevor Inch Memorial Library opened in 1997 and since then the Chamber Gallery has been used as a gallery for art exhibitions and concerts put on by the Waimakariri Community Arts Council.

The Chamber Gallery was closed in June 2011 due to concerns about the stability of some of the walls. Strengthening work and refurbishment was carried out in 2012 and the Gallery reopened in August 2012.

The Council Chambers was given Landmarks status at a ceremony held on Friday 23 May 2014. The plaque was unveiled by Mae Whittington who started working for the Rangiora Borough Council in 1942. The building has a Historic Place Category II registration.

For further information please visit: https://waimakaririlibraries.com/heritage/local-history/places-of-the-waimakariri/rangiora/history-of-the-rangiora-library