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Story: Place names

The River Avon or Shakespere

The Canterbury Association thought to name the stream that flowed through their planned inland settlement ‘Shakespere’. But it was renamed Avon at the request of the pioneer Deans brothers, after a stream in their native Scotland. Perhaps the change was acceptable because an Avon River also flows through Shakespeare’s birthplace, Stratford.

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Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: A-195-014

by William Fox

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Malcolm McKinnon, Place names – The imperial connection, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/zoomify/19342/the-river-avon-or-shakespere (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Malcolm McKinnon, published 1 March 2009.