The Weeping Willows of Christchurch to Commemorate
A plaque at Victoria Square, standing in Christchurch Central. The words below are the register’s own transcription, the casing, the spelling, the typos.
THE WEEPING WILLOWS OF CHRISTCHURCH TO COMMEMORATE / FRANCOIS LE LIEVRE / WHO FIRST CAME TO NEW ZEALAND ON THE FRENCH WHALING SHIP 'LE NIL' IN 1838. AFTER LANDING IN AKAROA HE PLANTED WEEPING WILLOW CUTTINGS TAKEN FROM NAPOLEON'S GRAVE ON TEH ISLAND OF ST. HELENA. THERE IS STRONG EVIDENCE TO SUGGEST THAT THE FIRST WILLOWS PLANTED ON THE BANKS OF THE AVON RIVER GREW FROM CUTTINGS TAKEN FROM THESE TREES / ERECTED BY HIS GREAT-GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTER MARIE EMILY LE LIEVRE (AKAROA) AND THE CHRISTCHURCH CITY COUNCIL UNVEILED BY COUNCILLOR SALLY BUCK ON 29TH MARCH 2001
The register’s own frame
The council’s image, opened at its own host, the frame is the record’s, the reading is yours.
Where it stands
The record’s own pin; the strong outline is the suburb around it, the rest are its neighbours.
The ground’s other names 31
Flower Bed Gifted to the City by the Victoria League
The Market Hall Stood on This Site From 1852 to 1870
Victoria Square
Victoria Square Redevelopment — Christchurch City Council
Market Stalls Selling Meat Fish Produce and Groceries
Quercus Palustris Planted to Mark the 50th Anniversary
Gifted to the City by Estate of V.J. Wilkinson
Immigration Barracks Stood on This Site in the Early 1860s
23 more names stand on the same ground, the whole roll keeps them: /plaques.
In the archive
A name read off an inscription is a lead, not a verified identity, the search is where verification starts.
The ground under it
The plans and surveys kept here, asked once of the pin. The whole stack answers live: what stood on this ground →
Around it
The reports nearby
4,573 council reports pinned within 250 m of the point, most often Graffiti & vandalism and Roads & footpaths, 3,728 with a photograph. A pin is where a reporter stood, not a claim about the place itself.
Graffiti on a fence, building or structure
Poles and Signage - General
Graffiti on a fence, building or structure
Graffiti on a fence, building or structure
Graffiti on a traffic light pole or cabinet, or wa
Graffiti on a traffic light pole or cabinet, or wa
Road Signage
Accessibility
Graffiti on a fence, building or structure
Graffiti on a playground or in a park
Dumped Rubbish
Graffiti on a fence, building or structureQuestions, answered briefly
A plaque of Christchurch, standing at Victoria Square in Christchurch Central, one record on the council’s plaque register for the public estate.
The words above, verbatim, the surveyor’s transcription, casing, spelling and typos as they were read off the rock. The register does not say who the name belonged to; the dedication is the whole of the record.
32 plaques on the register share this ground, the others are linked above.
The register marks it in service, commissioned 2026. The books' word, though, a plaque may have weathered since the survey, and the pin is the record’s position.
The record behind this
Christchurch City Council’s open data, the Furniture service’s Plaque layer. The inscription is the surveyor’s transcription; "In Service" is the books, not a promise the plaque still reads clean today. The pin is the record’s position on the layer.
This page as markdown: /plaque/307412-victoria-square.md · the roll: /plaques · the record as data: /plaques.json · on the big map: /map?layer=plaques · the monuments the crowd mapped: /memorial · what stood on this ground before: /before.