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Story: The New Zealand bush

Kennedy’s Bush

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Kennedy’s Bush

From the early 1900s there was a new respect for the bush. In Canterbury, conservationist Harry Ell promoted a network of scenic reserves around bush remnants on the Port Hills above Christchurch. The first was at Kennedy’s Bush, above his father’s farm. This 1906 poster (from Ell's scrapbook) urged the public to donate money to the project. Later a rest house for recreational walkers, the Sign of the Kiwi, was built on the edge of the reserve.

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Christchurch City Libraries

Reference: PhotoCD 1, IMG0079 Archive 202

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How to cite this page

Jock Phillips, The New Zealand bush – Attitudes to the bush, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/ephemera/14500/kennedys-bush (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Jock Phillips, published 1 March 2009.