Woolston, New Zealand

Ōpāwaho / Heathcote river, as seen from Clarendon Terrace, Woolston

In pre-European times the Woolston was not clearly identified. Local Māori people gathered food from the mudflats at Ferrymead at the eastern end of modern Woolston. The Māori name for the mudflats was "Ohika paruparu" (meaning women gathering shellfish often sank to their thighs in the mud). This is the only name known to have been used to describe the area prior to European settlement.[3]

Early European records name the western area of Woolston as Roimata, meaning teardrop in Māori. To this day some land titles in this area reference Roimata as their location. More recently the name has been revived by the Roimata Community Incorporated Society (Roimata Community Inc.) and Christ Church Roimata[4] (an independent Anglican church), which are geographically and community-based organisations actively working in Roimata. Its boundaries are defined as Ensors Road, Brougham Street, Ferry Road and Richardson Terrace.[5]

The bell tower, St John the Evangelist Woolston

One of the first signs of a growing European community in the Woolston area was the establishment of a Christian church, the Anglican Parish of St John the Evangelist Woolston, which belongs to the Christchurch diocese. The origins of the Parish date back to 1857 when the first Cob Church was built on the current site. In 1882 a new timber church was built. In 1960 the existing concrete Church building was built and dedicated (consecrated 1963). These church buildings are used daily for worship and many other religious and community activities. It is open to the public on Sundays. It is situated on Ferry Road at the eastern end of Woolston Village.[6] The Parish was officially recognised one year after Christchurch was officially recognised as a City in 1856, the same year that the Anglican Diocese of Christchurch was established. St Johns is one of the oldest Anglican parishes in New Zealand.[7]

Woolston initially belonged to the Heathcote District. In the 1850s and 1860s, wharves along the Ōpāwaho / Heathcote River were used by small ships to service the area. Before the Lyttelton Rail Tunnel was opened in 1867, all the incoming trade arrived in Ferrymead and was transported through Woolston (along Ferry Road) into Christchurch. The road went from the wharf in Lower Heathcote to what is now the corner of High and Madras Streets. The area became quite industrialised after the tunnel opened.[8] Ferry Road later carried the tramlines to Sumner.

The Old Ferry Road/Woolston Post Office

Up until early 1870 the area was commonly referred to as Lower Heathcote. At a meeting about the Heathcote Road drain a local store owner, Joseph Harry Hopkins (1837–1910), named the area Woolston after his birthplace Woolston in Southampton, England. On 16 June 1870, in response to a petition to the postmaster-general, Julius Vogel,[9] objecting to the post office being called Ferry Road, the name Woolston was gazetted.[10] Woolston became a district in 1882,[8] and remained a self-governing borough until 1921, when it was amalgamated with Christchurch.[11]

Joseph Harry Hopkins (1837–1910) was a shopkeeper and postmaster in Woolston who established the Woolston Emporium in 1863. With a building footprint of 5,600 square feet (520 m²), second floor storage and cellar accommodation, this was a rather large store for its time. The Woolston Emporium had six departments: drapery, clothing, boots, grocery, crockery, ironmongery, and a corn store.[8][12] Hopkins Street, named in 1924, commemorates Joseph Hopkins.[13]

Evangelical leader William Orange was born at Woolston in 1889.[14]

Woolston Cut

The Woolston Tidal Barrage and the Woolston Cut

The Ōpāwaho / Heathcote River provided Woolston much needed water for industries like wool scouring, which needed plentiful water. In 1966 the Woolston industrial sewer was built, and up until that time the river had become increasingly polluted.[15]

Flooding had also become a problem and in 1986 the Woolston Cut began to allow flood waters to bypass a long loop of the river. This resulted in effluent from the surrounding government settlements to pollute this stretch of river. The 510 metres (1,670 ft) long project, which cost NZ$2m, had as a consequence that the trees on the riverbank died as far upstream as the Opawa bridge, and that banks collapsed. Extensive investigations revealed that the trees died from salt water travelling further upstream with every tide (with the salt killing the trees), that the soil structure changed (a sodium / calcium exchange in the clay molecules weakened the soils) and the Tunnelling mud crab had extended its range up the river, further weakening the banks. As a mitigating measure, the Woolston Tidal Barrage was built at the upstream end of the cut, which is only opened in time of floods. During normal flow regimes, the Heathcote remains to flow through what is called the Woolston Loop.[16][17]

Union Wharf memorial bollard in Catherine Street, Woolston

Woolston during the 2011 New Zealand snowstorms

In later years Woolston's close proximity to the Lyttelton rail line continued to sustain Woolston as a prime location for industry. Over the 20th century the area grew to become the centre of the New Zealand rubber industry. Other industries grew here and included a nugget factory and a gelatine and glue works. Many of these businesses are still present in one form or another. Woolston hosts Christchurch's largest container terminal.

Residential growth from the city gradually moved out through the Woolston area and it is now well merged with Christchurch City. Te Ara, the on-line Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, says that "Factory workers living nearby gave Woolston a strong working-class identity."[15]

Woolston is home to The Woolston Drivebys, an indoor football team. The Woolston Brass Band, established in 1891,[18] has gained a national reputation and has won many competitions.[15]

Woolston comprises five statistical areas. Woolston North, West and East and Ensors are primarily residential. Woolston South is primarily industrial.

The Tannery was established in Woolston in 2013.[32] It features 60 stores including a cinema complex.[33]

Ngutuawa School and Te Waka Unua School are full primary schools for years 1 to 8.[34][35] They have rolls of 142 and 459 students, respectively. Ngutuawa started as Bamford School in 1952. It was damaged in the Christchurch earthquakes, and moved to a new site with the new name in 2020.[36] Te Waka Unua opened in 2015 after the merger of Phillipstown School with Woolston School.[37]

St Anne's Catholic School and Tamariki School are state-integrated full primary schools for years 1 to 8.[38][39] They have rolls of 164 and 50 students, respectively. St Anne's was established in 1906.[40] Tamariki opened in 1966.[41] It provides education following the principles of A. S. Neill.[42]

Kimihia Parents' College is a Teen Parent Unit of Linwood College.[43]

All these schools except Kimihia are coeducational. Rolls are as of April 2023.[44]

Media related to Woolston, New Zealand at Wikimedia Commons