Alexander William Bickerton was Canterbury College’s (the forerunner of the University of Canterbury) first professor of chemistry, and a figure of some notoriety in early Christchurch. He was acknowledged as a brilliant teacher and Ernest Rutherford was his most famous pupil.
Life in Wainoni
He built a large house (long since demolished) called “Wainoni” on 20 to 30 acres of land in what is now the suburb of Wainoni. In 1896 he established a new form of social living in a “federative home” at Wainoni. About 30 people lived there, lived socially, and ran many activities including art classes, bands and clubs, although this broke up in 1903 after allegations of misconduct.
Bickerton then turned the gardens of Wainoni into a pleasure garden where thousands came to watch the spectacles he created including naval battles with real explosives, shipwrecks and rescues, which were staged on an artificial lake. In 1904 the Avon Pine Sanitorium for fee-paying tuberculosis patients was opened on the grounds.
Career and later life
Bickerton’s controversial views on many topics including university reform and the institution of marriage finally led to him being sacked from the University. He was a supporter of women’s rights and on the first committee for the Canterbury Women's Institute, with Ada Wells and Kate Sheppard.
He returned to England in 1910 and died in 1929. The year before his death he was made Professor Emeritus of Canterbury College. His friend Ettie Rout, another student, returned his ashes to Christchurch, and they were lodged in the wall of the Great Hall of the Arts Centre behind a bronze plaque.
A number of places in Christchurch bear his name. Bickerton Street is named after him, and the suburb of Wainoni is named for his house. Bickerton Park, on the corner of Wainoni Road and Avonside Drive, was donated by Thomas Edmonds in 1931 as a reserve to the memory of Professor Bickerton.
More information
In our catalogue
Online resources
- Professor Bickerton’s Wainoni by Timothy Baker - book about the history of Professor Bickerton’s home and pleasure gardens in the Wainoni area of Christchurch.
- Alexander William Bickerton - biography from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography.
- Alexander William Bickerton - biography from the Encyclopaedia of New Zealand 1966.
- Images of Wainoni Park on Canterbury Stories
- Christchurch streets and places on Canterbury Stories
- The legacy of Thomas Edmonds on Canterbury Stories