Tag: Geraldine

Geraldine (Māori: Heratini) is a town in the Canterbury Region on the South Island of New Zealand. It is about 140 km south of Christchurch, and inland from Timaru, which is 35 km to the south. Geraldine has a country village atmosphere, with majestic old forests, early settlers cottages and little arts and crafts corners.
The Geraldine area started to be settled by Europeans in the 1840s and it was in 1854 that Samuel Hewlings built the first bark hut in Talbot Street. He married a Māori, Nga Hei, and the totara tree that he planted to mark the birth of his daughter still stands. Sheep runs were quickly established in the area together with pit saw milling of the native bush. When the bush had been cleared, wheat crops were grown across the plains.
Originally called Talbot Forest, Geraldine was renamed FitzGerald in 1857 after the first superintendent of Canterbury, the Irishman James Edward FitzGerald. The name was finally changed to Geraldine, which was the FitzGeralds’ family name…