Access
Access the short walks around Kennedys Bush from Sign of the Bellbird on Summit Rd or from Kennedys Bush Access Track in Halswell.
Dogs
Dogs are prohibited in Kennedys Bush Reserve, but are allowed on leash, on Kennedys Bush Track and Worsley Spur Track.
Toilets
Facilities are available at the Sign of the Bellbird and Halswell Quarry Park.
Volunteer in the Port Hills and make a positive difference in Christchurch's most popular adventure playground.
Keep an eye out for regular working bees and planting days held by Christchurch City Council or one of the many active community organisations involved in Port Hills restoration and care.
The Kennedy family
Kennedys Bush is named for the Kennedy family, who lived in the area from 1865 to 1881.
Both Thomas Kennedy and his wife, Sophia (nee Streeter), travelled separately from Ireland to New Zealand around 1840. They married in Akaroa and lived in several locations around Banks Peninsula before purchasing the section now known as Kennedy's Bush in 1856. The family would live and work here for nearly 25 years.
In 1860, the Kennedys leased Waterford Farm on Lincoln Road to use to store timber milled from the bush. The family then headed into the bush, where they lived in tents and milled timber to sell as firewood, fence posts, and railway sleepers. They also established a trade through the making and selling of 'manuka charcoal', a clean fuel in demand by metal workers. As Christchurch faced a timber shortage by 1860, the bush had great resources to make a living from.
Thomas eventually built a house in the bush, the site rediscovered by members of the Summit Road Society in 1990. Nothing remained of the house, but the site was detectable as a levelled area on the hillside, dotted with shards of pottery, bottle necks and rusted tin mugs as well as other signs of past habitation, including horse harnesses, old boots, and walnut trees planted in a row.
Kennedys Bush Road was constructed around 1863, which would have made hauling timber down to Christchurch much easier than using bush tracks. The road also provided another opportunity for Thomas as it required seal for construction and maintenance from a quarry, which he conveniently had nearby.
The best timber had been cut out of Kennedys Bush and the surrounding valleys by the late 1860s, but a lot was also destroyed in a fire in 1868, which took two weeks to burn out. Many in the timber business moved on after this, but Thomas diversified into quarrying at a site near Sign of the Bellbird, where he ended up supplying shingle to the Halswell Roads Board.
In 1878, the Kennedy family sold Kennedys Bush, and Thomas passed away in 1881.
Find out more about the Kennedy family(external link)
Conservation
Kennedys Bush was purchased in 1906 through the initiative of Harry Ell, a conservationist and campaigner for the preservation of scenery and protection of native birds. Harry Ell was born in 1862, before the majority of the bush had been milled. Harry would spend many happy hours in native hillside bush, including at Kennedys Bush, acquiring a long-lasting love for native flora and wildlife.
As Thomas Kennedy didn't clear all of the trees on his land, there was luckily still native bush that could be preserved. In 1906, the then-owner of Kennedys Bush put 20 acres of the land up for sale. Harry Ell was able to purchase this using a mix of government subsidy, his own money and a small amount of public donations.
A survey of the purchased land by botanist Dr Leonard Cockayne showed it contained thirty-six species of tree and shrub, thirteen types of
climbing plant, fifteen types of fern and thirty-four kinds of grass and sedge. In 1908, Harry Ell and Dr Cockayne were able to persuade the new Scenery Preservation Board that the rest of the bush should be purchased as a public reserve and promoted the idea of a network of scenic reserves on the Port Hills.
Ell also envisioned a Summit Road that would link the scenic reserves and walking tracks in the Port Hills with rest houses along the route. Read more about the first of these, Sign of the Bellbird.
Legacy
The Kennedy family lend their name to the suburb of Kennedys Bush, Kennedys Bush Scenic Reserve, Kennedys Bush Road and the subdivision of Kennedys Landing. Sophia Gardens, a street in Halswell, is also named for Sophia Streeter.
Mountain biking
Test your stamina on the longest ascent in the Port Hills - Kennedys Bush Track, or take it one step further and continue from the end of this track onto the more challenging Kennedys Bush to Worsleys Track.
Be aware that Kennedys Track sometimes closes during lambing season (August to September).
Walking
Kennedys Bush Reserve has a network of tracks making a number of circuits possible.
Find a new favourite below:
