Exciting Historic Find in Earthquake Striken New Zealand City

Today, exactly one week after the devastating earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, exciting documents were found buried beneath the rubble. Demolition workmen and rescuers were clearing rubble when a crane driver spotted the documents contained within two different time capsules.

Image via Wikipedia

The first was a document contained in a slightly damaged glass bottle, buried beneath the destroyed statue of John Robert Godley, the founding father of Canterbury. It was a hand written page, all of which was not able to be read through the bottle. It appears to have been buried beneath the statue of Godley, erected in 1867. It was immediately handed to excited Mayor, Bob Parker, and is now in the expert hands of the Christchurch Museum, who have been entrusted to remove the document from the bottle, then unravel and read it. All the finders of the bottle could decipher was that it was from the grateful citizens of Christchurch, in memory of Godley.

Image by edwin.11 via Flickr

Along with this document a copper time capsule was found amidst the stone and rubble where the statue had stood. This is believed to contain documents outlining Godley’s vision for the city of Christchurch.

The director of Canterbury Museum, Anthony Wright, said these are exciting discoveries amidst all the sad news of the earthquake.

Godley had been asked, in the early 1800s, to found the settlement at Christchurch, New Zealand by Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who established many of the colonies in New Zealand through the New Zealand Company. The Canterbury Association was established in 1848. Godley arrived in Lyttelton in 1850 and he and his wife Jane were there to meet the first four ships when they arrived in Canterbury in 1850.

Image via Wikipedia

Godley spent two and a half years in New Zealand, working with the citizens to establish their city and province. He then returned to England. His statue in Cathedral Square, Christchurch was erected by the people of Christchurch in 1867 when they learned of his death in England.

The current Mayor of Christchurch, Bob Parker, said this was an exciting find amidst such sad times. He hopes that the documents will be preserved once again, and replaced beneath the statue of Godley when it is rebuilt.