Collection Stories

On 15 June 1880 reserve lands in New Zealand were brought under the Public Domains Act 1860 and the first Cambridge Domain Board was appointed. The first meeting was held 3 July 1880 when Thos…

The first European force policing the Cambridge area was the 3rd Regiment of the Waikato Militia under Colonel William Charles Lyon. On 10 October 1867 the Armed Constabulary Act was passed and the Waikato Militia…

On 13 July 1864 the site for the 3rd Waikato Militia, was chosen. ‘Camp Cambridge’ was named after the Duke of Cambridge, then Commander-in-Chief of the British Armed Forces. It was on both sides of…

Chronicles of Cambridge (author ‘Chicot’ 1885) Chapter I Now in the year of Our Lady Victoria, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-five, there was a city in the uttermost parts of the earth, the ancient…

This Society was started in 1891 by Thomas Wells and Martin McDermott, J R S Richardson, Mrs Willis, and Jos Chambers. More keen members joined – W F Buckland, Miss Ewen, the Misses Sharkey, G…

William Kennedy Carter had his stables on the block of land now occupied by Briscoes, bordered by Lake, Kirkwood and Brewery (Empire) Streets and the National Hotel. He came from Halifax, Canada and started his…

Imagine you are back in the 1930’s depression. Your family is struggling on a farm on Buckland Road. Many neighbours are just walking off their farms. Aunty Ethel in Australia leaves you some money in…

The Cambridge Borough Council came fighting and yelling into the world at their first meeting on 7 September 1886 – twenty two years after Cambridge was founded. (The first local body was the Cambridge North Highway…