Ferrymead Historic Park, Christchurch

Ferrymead (The Meadow by the Ferry) is the name given to land on the south bank of the Heathcote river adjacent to the Estuary. In 1964, the Heathcote County Council purchased the site of the first public railway station for use as a park and asked the Junior Chamber of Commerce to make recommendations for the development of the six acre property. The Junior Chamber did this as its 21st anniversary project and a series of committees was set up to plan the various aspects of the site. The publication of the Junior Chamber report then led to the formation of a steering committee comprising representatives of several technological and historical organisations such as the Museum of Science and Industry, the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society, the Tramway Historical Society, the Canterbury Pilgrims and Early Settlers Association, the Historic Places Trust, the Canterbury Museum Trust Board, the Christchurch Civic Trust, the Aviation Historical Society, the Vintage Car Club and the Canterbury Progress League. In April 1968, Messrs. G.L.Evans, S.H.Wood and W.P.Scowen successfully applied for incorporation of the steering committee as the Ferrymead Trust under the Charitable Trusts Act, 1957.
The park developed rapidly through the use of labour from Government work schemes. Today the park consists of an Edwardian township and an Exhibition Area. The township contains a church, chapel, schoolhouse, Print Shop, barber, bakery, solicitors office, Magic Lantern Theatre, drapery, three cottages, two residential houses, Police House and Jail, photographic studio, Heathcote Studios, railway station, railway running sheds, blacksmith, livery stables, Post and Telegraph Office, bootmaker, cooperage and sawmill. Within the exhibition area are the largest fire museum in Australasia, an aeronautical museum, the Hall of Wheels and a model railway display. At Bridle Path Rd, the park also has a Tram Barn, Sound Museum and active radio station - 3XP.