The ''Rolleston Statue'' is a white
marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...
statue
A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size; a sculpture t ...
situated outside
Canterbury Museum on Rolleston Avenue in
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...
, New Zealand. It commemorates
William Rolleston
William Rolleston (19 September 1831 – 8 February 1903) was a New Zealand politician, public administrator, educationalist and Canterbury provincial superintendent.
Early life
Rolleston was born on 19 September 1831 at Maltby, Yorkshire as th ...
, who was
Superintendent
Superintendent may refer to:
*Superintendent (police), Superintendent of Police (SP), or Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), a police rank
*Prison warden or Superintendent, a prison administrator
*Superintendent (ecclesiastical), a church exec ...
of the
Canterbury Province
The Canterbury Province was a province of New Zealand from 1853 until the abolition of provincial government in 1876. Its capital was Christchurch.
History
Canterbury was founded in December 1850 by the Canterbury Association of influential En ...
from 1868 until 1877.
The statue was unveiled on 26 May 1906 by Sir
John Hall John Hall may refer to:
Academics
* John Hall (NYU President) (fl. c. 1890), American academic
* John A. Hall (born 1949), sociology professor at McGill University, Montreal
* John F. Hall (born 1951), professor of classics at Brigham Young Unive ...
KCMG, Mayor of Christchurch and personal friend, who writes the "City Council arrived in carriages to Statue".
The Rolleston Statue fell off its plinth in the
2011 Christchurch earthquake
A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. local time (23:51 UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the entire of the Canterbury region in the South Island, centred south-east ...
but was repaired in 2016.
History
![Rolleston03](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Rolleston03.JPG)
Rolleston was the fourth and last Canterbury Superintendent. He was also a
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
, from 1868 to 1899 with two breaks in the later years.
Rolleston died in 1903.
Rolleston was the politician who had been instrumental in the establishment of the Canterbury Museum and the
Canterbury College Canterbury College may refer to:
* Canterbury College (Indiana), U.S.
* Canterbury College (Waterford), Queensland, Australia
* Canterbury College (Windsor, Ontario), Canada
* Canterbury College, Kent, England
* Canterbury College, Oxford, England ...
, which now houses the
Arts Centre
An art centre or arts center is distinct from an art gallery or art museum. An arts centre is a functional community centre with a specific remit to encourage arts practice and to provide facilities such as theatre space, gallery space, venues for ...
. It was thus seen as appropriate to place the statue outside the museum, with Rolleston looking across Antigua Street (with this section since renamed to Rolleston Avenue
) at the Canterbury College.
![Headless Rolleston statue](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Headless_Rolleston_statue.jpg)
The statue, by English sculptor
Herbert Hampton, was unveiled in 1906, where it stood on a stone
plinth
A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In c ...
.
The plinth reads: "William Rolleston Superintendent of Canterbury 1866–1876."
At the time of its unveiling, the sculpture was regarded as a good likeness of Rolleston though has been criticised in more recent times as being "rigid" and "lacking surface interest" when compared to the other Christchurch statues sculpted by
Thomas Woolner
Thomas Woolner (17 December 1825 – 7 October 1892) was an English sculptor and poet who was one of the founder-members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was the only sculptor among the original members.
After participating in the found ...
and
George Lawson.
The statue toppled off its plinth during the February
2011 Christchurch earthquake
A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. local time (23:51 UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the entire of the Canterbury region in the South Island, centred south-east ...
and the head broke off.
During repairs, it was discovered that the statue had simply been mortared into place. An anchor was fitted so that the statue will not topple over again in future earthquakes. The repaired statue was unveiled, with many of Rolleston's descendants present, on 21 December 2016; almost six years after the earthquake.
Heritage listing
On 26 November 1981, the statue was registered by
Heritage New Zealand
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust) ( mi, Pouhere Taonga) is a Crown entity with a membership of around 20,000 people that advocate ...
as a Category II historic place, with the registration number being 1946.
[ It is one of the three statues that commemorate superintendents of Canterbury (the other statues commemorate James FitzGerald and ]William Sefton Moorhouse
William Sefton Moorhouse ( 1825 – 15 September 1881) was a British-born New Zealand politician. He was the second Superintendent of Canterbury Province.
Early life
Moorhouse was born in Yorkshire, England, and baptised on 18 December 1825; th ...
) and they are all placed on Rolleston Avenue (Moorhouse's statue is some distance inside the Botanic Gardens
A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...
). The three statues thus form an important historical setting.
References
External links
{{Christchurch earthquakes
Marble sculptures in New Zealand
Heritage New Zealand Category 2 historic places in Canterbury, New Zealand
1906 sculptures
2011 Christchurch earthquake
Christchurch Central City
Outdoor sculptures in Christchurch
Sculptures of men in New Zealand
Statues of politicians
Cultural depictions of New Zealand men
Cultural depictions of politicians
Statues in New Zealand