Kennedys Bush

Kennedys Bush is a south-western suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand.

Kennedys Bush
Suburb
Aerial view of Halswell Quarry
Coordinates: 43.603°S 172.583°E / -43.603; 172.583
Country	New Zealand
City	Christchurch
Local authority	Christchurch City Council
Electoral ward	Halswell
Community board	Waipuna Halswell-Hornby-Riccarton
Area [1]
• Land	1,201 ha (2,968 acres)
Population  (June 2022)[2]
• Total	1,230

Halswell		Westmorland
	Kennedys Bush	Port Hills
Ladbrooks	Lansdowne

Thomas Kennedy

Kennedys Bush was first settled by Thomas Kennedy, an Irishman born in Cork around 1819, who arrived in New Zealand from America in 1838. He met Sophia Streeter in Wellington and they later married. Sophia had sailed on the Aurora, the first immigrant ship to arrive in Wellington.[3]

In 1841 the couple moved to Akaroa where Kennedy worked as a constable for the French settlers, mainly dealing with the crews of visiting ships. He also worked as a blacksmith. Five of the Kennedy children were born in Akaroa; the couple went on to have twelve altogether. After their thatched cottage burnt down, the Kennedys worked on farms before moving to Christchurch. In 1856 Kennedy bought 28 acres on the hills above Halswell with a licence to cut the bush.[4]

Kennedy opened a sawmill and felled trees from the bush using a team of bullocks to haul the processed timber on a sledge down a track. This was known as ‘Kennedys Track.’ Later it became ‘Quarry Road’ then ‘Pattersons Road’ (after one of the quarry managers), and eventually ‘Kennedys Bush Road.’

The full length of the road was surveyed and constructed in 1863.[5]

Kennedy grazed his teams of bullocks on 60 acres of land leased from Doctor A.C.Ward of Christchurch. This was on the site of the new sub-division named ‘Kennedys Green’ bounded by Kennedys Bush Road and Glovers Road.[4]

Kennedy established the first timber business in Christchurch selling sawn timber, posts and rails and firewood- all sourced from the hills above Halswell. He built two houses, the first in the bush, the second on flat land opposite the present quarry park. He named this ‘Waterford.’ Neither house remains.[6]

The flat land at Kennedys Bush was originally owned by William Guise Brittan and Michael J. Burke who bought it as part of the Lansdowne Run from the Canterbury Association in 1851. Brittan bought Burke out in 1860 and in 1873 sold a block of land on the south side of Kennedys Track to Prime Minister Sir Edward Stafford who lived in Old Tai Tapu Road in his house called ‘Lansdowne.’[7]

In 1859 relatives of Kennedy’s wife Sophia arrived from Australia to work for Kennedy. These included Alfred Streeter who married Margaret Watkins. The young couple bought an acre of land from Sir Edward Stafford in 1874 and built a house on the corner of Kennedys Bush Road and Glovers Road. They raised twelve children there.[4] This house still stands, probably the oldest surviving dwelling in Kennedys Bush.

Halswell Quarry

Formed in the Lyttleton volcano six million years ago, the basalt formation at Kennedys Bush was first noted by the Deans brothers, who named the outcrop ‘Rock Hill.’ The stone was known for its hardness and beauty as a building stone, but was also suitable for crushing as road chip.

James Feather and James Forgan opened Halswell Quarry in 1856 as the first continuous operators. In 1864 they were bought out by W.G.Brittan who went into partnership with G.Miles and W. White.[8]

Rock was released by explosives with the shot holes being drilled by hand in the quarry’s early days.[9]

The rock was then crushed by men wielding sledgehammers and transported to Christchurch by bullock teams. Later White had a tramway built to transport the stone more cheaply, still using bullocks to pull the wagons, but this was abandoned in 1873. Traction engines were eventually used to haul the stone.[9]

Quarry stone was used to construct many notable city buildings such as the Canterbury Provincial Council Buildings, Sunnyside Hospital, Durham Street Methodist Church, Canterbury Museum, Normal School, Teachers College Building, Sign of the Takahe, Robert McDougal Art Gallery and the Christchurch Cathedral.[10]

The quarry continued delivering rock until December1990 when the readily available stone was exhausted and it closed. The quarry is thought to be the oldest and longest continually operating in Australasia.

After it shut down the quarry became Halswell Quarry Park operated by the Christchurch City Council. It is 60.4 hectares (149 acres) and offers a combination of walking and cycling tracks, historic sites, picnic areas and six sister city gardens. Notable buildings are the crusher plant workshops (1912), the singlemens’ quarters (1922) and the Quarry Manager’s House (1927).