Eliza Greenstreet

Biographical information provided by Lillie Le Dorré for the He Tohu exhibition:

Eliza Greenstreet (nee Mackie) was born on 24 March 1842 to parents Rev. Charles Mackie and Anne Strickland. She came to New Zealand with her parents and three siblings, arriving at Lyttelton 21 October 1852.

Eliza married Charles Hawkins Greenstreet on 6 July 1858 at Avonside Church, Christchurch. Charles was born on 24 May 1830, the son of Rev Frederick Waters Greenstreet, a General in the East India Company. Charles came to New Zealand from England arriving at Lyttelton aboard the William Hyde on 9 January 1852. Together Eliza and Charles lived at Horseshoe Lake, Avonside before moving to the Ringwood Station at South Rakaia in 1863. This area is now known as Greenstreet. The couple also maintained a townhouse on the corner of Mays and Papanui Roads in Chirstchurch.  

Together they had ten children in the ten years between 1859 and 1869. Eliza died in 1912, aged 69 years. She is buried at the Church of the Holy Trinity Avonside.

Eliza was charitable, donating money to the building of Christchurch Hospital’s Children’s Ward in 1909.

Eliza’s family are among the oldest settler families in the Canterbury region. Rev Mackie headed Canterbury’s first Anglican church, the Church of the Holy Trinity Avonside, which was established in 1855. Rev C. Mackie held the first service at his home, Stricklands, before a church building was built. Stricklands went on to become the first refuge for women in Christchurch, and was later converted into the Essex maternity home before being demolished in 1928.

Daughter Grace Greenstreet also signed sheet 201 of the 1893 petition.