Rich man, poor man, environmentalist, thief - Christchurch City ...

Preface
Unsung heroines was Canterbury Public Library’s (now
Christchurch City Libraries) contribution to Women’s
Suffrage Year in 1994. This year, for the Millennium and 150th anniversary of the founding of the Canterbury Settlement,
we have produced Rich man, poor man, environmentalist, thief.
In both works I have endeavoured to highlight the lives of
interesting but forgotten city dwellers. In a number of cases,
these have been people associated with my own stamping
ground to the east of the town. Extensive information on
sources has been included, in part to support the text, in part
to give researchers, genealogical and otherwise, a good idea of
what primary and secondary material is available.
I thank Christchurch City Libraries staff: Glenda Fulton
and Margaret Clune who allowed me the time to do research;
Microfiche and Microfilm Centre staff, Helen Brown, Tom
Trevella, Hamish Gordon, Neil Fitzgerald, Kate Ogier and
Ann McGrain who hunted out useful pieces of information;
Enid Ellis, Jane Rogers, Joanna Bellringer and, especially,
Patricia Sargison who read the text and suggested
improvements; and the production team, Jenny Drummond,
John Lloyd and Sasha Bowers. Assistance came also from the
staff at the Alexander Turnbull Library; Jane Teal and Jo-Anne
Smith, archivists at Anglican Archives and the Canterbury
Museum respectively; the Macmillan Brown Centre at the
University of Canterbury; and National Archives,
Christchurch, whose extensive primary resources do indeed
constitute a ‘national park of the historical imagination’.
Genealogical friends, Rona Hayles and Margaret Reid, found
overseas information at the Family History Centre of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Professional
researchers Valerie Marshall in Christchurch and Jane
Smallfield in Dunedin showed themselves skilled in the use
of the archive holdings of Land Information New Zealand.
In Wellington, Leonard Dangerfield was, as usual, diligent
and resourceful. Dianne Snowden extracted Tasmanian
convict material. As with Unsung heroines, my aunt,
Gwendolene Agassiz and mother, Daisy Greenaway, provided
information from their store of knowledge of Christchurch
people and places.
A note on the title. Pat Sargison looked at the occupations
of those who appear in the text, took an old song and changed
the lyrics to:
‘Teacher, tailor, taxidermist, printer,
rich man, poor man, environmentalist, thief’.
It was decided that, of the two lines, the second would make
the more catchy title.
Richard L N Greenaway
Aotearoa New Zealand Centre
Christchurch City Libraries
October 2000
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