Opawa

So, I'm here in Opawa, about 3.5 kilometers southeast of Christchurch's city center. It's pretty residential now, but it's interesting to think about how much this area has changed. Before Europeans arrived, it was mostly marshland and mixed vegetation. When the first European settlers started coming in the 1850s, it became a dairying area, with a lot of English farmers.

The name "Opawa" itself is a shortened and anglicized version of the Māori name Ōpāwaho, which the river here also shares. That Māori name means something like "a part of the outer pā" or even "the seawards pā." Apparently, some earlier anglicized spellings like 'Oparia' and 'Oporia' were used in 1844, and 'Opawaha' in the 1850s. It seems Joshua Strange Williams, an early settler, was the one who really solidified the name "Opawa" when he called his property "Opawa Farm" in the 1850s, and the Lyttelton Times picked up on it by 1862.

Historically, Māori had settlements scattered around Christchurch from about 1250 AD. There was a kāinga, or settlement, right near where Vincent Place and Judge Street are now. It was a stopping point for travelers going between Kaiapoi Pā and the Banks Peninsula. They called this particular kāinga Poho-Areare, which means "pigeon breasted," and it was built by a Ngāi Tahu hapū called Ō-Roto-Repo, or "swamp dwellers," in the 18th century. They really used the marshy environment, with the swamps, creeks, and river providing plenty of ducks, lamprey, and eels. Someone even found a skull and bones, along with a piece of pounamu, near the Poho-Areare settlement in 1927, which suggests it might have been a sacred burial site.

When the Europeans started settling, Rev. William Willock, an early settler, built "Opawaha Cottage" here after arriving in 1850. He even held church services in his home, and his cottage was still standing a hundred years later as a stable. It’s pretty cool to think about how much history is embedded in this quiet, residential suburb.