More district mischief

It's that time once again! At the Ashburton Museum we often come across some strange things from day to day, including odd and interesting stories from the archives.

Albert Ager, an architect of note

Albert Ager was an architect from Christchurch who briefly made his mark in Ashburton during the late 1890s and early 1900s. Ager trained at the School of Architecture at Canterbury College, Christchurch. It seems that before coming to Ashburton, he lectured at the School of Art. He delivered a series of lectures on the history...

Dry Docks and Sunspots

People are always trying to predict and speculate on the future – it’s often more important to us than the present. Whether we are thinking ahead at work, checking the weather, or making financial decisions, the future is always on our minds. The distant future, too, is often the subject of much discussion and thought,...

140 years of mayhem and mischief

Last year, the Ashburton Guardian celebrated 140 years of reporting. Among that coverage are many stories of mayhem and mischief, showing how nineteenth-century life in Ashburton and in Canterbury as a whole was not as mundane as one might think. Old Guardians are peppered with reports of stand-out incidents and occurrences, ranging from macabre to...

  It’s no secret that some advertisements try and make the subject seem as great as possible, at least within reason, since that’s the whole point of advertising. Of course you want your product to seem like the best of its kind, the only logical option, and the best bang for your buck. However, when...

Many scientific practices or areas of study that were once considered progressive or novel are now considered pseudoscience and quackery - phrenology included. You may see phrenology head models and head charts occasionally in odd shops, making the notion of the practice seem a bit “hipster”, but phrenology was as dubious as it was intriguing....

The two Emily’s

This week the Ashburton Museum continues to highlight the many interesting and capable women who have contributed to our community. We celebrate two Emily’s who were included in last years exhibition to mark Suffrage 125 celebrations.   Emily Begg Emily Maria Hill was born at Wakanui in 1875 to Charles and Maria (nee Hyde), a...

The diversity of suffrage

Most will be aware that we were the first country to allow women the vote, although territories or states – such as Wyoming in America- were earlier. While we often hear the term ‘women’s suffrage’, some women, like some men, could vote much earlier than 1893. In 1876, the Municipal Corporations Act allowed ratepayers of...

WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE TWENTY-FIVE YEARS’ RECORD

Just over 100 years ago, an article written by Clara Lill was published in the Ashburton Guardian to mark the 25th anniversary of women's suffrage in new Zealand. Clara signed the petition in 1893 that successfully led to all women in New Zealand being given the right to vote – the first country in the...

Slow News Days

We are no strangers to uneventful days, and it is painful to imagine how much more boring these kinds of days were a hundred years ago. Old issues of the Ashburton Guardian contain a lot of what you would expect – local developments, war updates, and pages upon pages of agriculture-centric advertising. However, it seems...