Christchurch - Garden City of New Zealand

This promotional travelogue, made for the Christchurch City Council, shows off the city and its environs. Filmed at a time when New Zealand’s post-war economy was booming as it continued its role as a farmyard for the “Old Country”, it depicts Christchurch as a prosperous city, confident in its green and pleasant self-image as a “better Britain” (as James Belich coined NZ’s relationship to England), and architecturally dominated by its cathedrals, churches and schools. Many of these buildings were severely damaged or destroyed in the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011.

When spring comes to Canterbury, daffodils bloom gay and golden in the woodland of Hagley Park.

– From the narration

Key Cast & Crew

Roy A. Evans

Director, Camera

C.W. Cobby

Narrator

W.D. Frazer

Camera