page_title: Sign of the Kiwi
section_title: Historical context
hierarchical_section_title: Sign of the Kiwi / Historical context
caption_attribution_description: English: Head and shoulders portrait of Henry George Ell, photographed circa 2 October 1914 by S P Andrew Ltd of Wellington. Shows a clean shaven man looking towards the camera. He wears a shirt and tie, a waistcoat, and a suit jacket.
context_page_description: The Sign of the Kiwi, originally called Toll House, is a small café and shop at Dyers Pass on the road between Christchurch and Governors Bay. It was built in 1916–17 by Harry Ell as a staging post and opened as a tearoom and rest house. It has a Category I heritage classification by Heritage New Zealand and is a popular destination for tourists and locals alike. The building was closed some time after the 22 February 2011 Christchurch earthquake and it was not until 23 January 2017, six years later, that it opened again. Although located within the burned area, the building was not damaged by the 2017 Port Hills fires a month later.
context_section_description: Harry Ell was a Member of Parliament (1899–1919) and a Christchurch City Councillor (1903 and 1917–1919). He devoted much of his life to the conservation of bush remnants on the Port Hills on Banks Peninsula, and a key element in his scheme was to make the area accessible to the public. To that end, he proposed a Summit Road that would go along the hilltops, connecting Godley Head with the tops above Akaroa. Whilst most of the public believed that the scenic reserves to be formed were too remote, Ell had a way with landowners and organised some government funding. His usual style was to pay a deposit for land, with the remainder to be raised later. In 1909, he decided to form a Summit Road Scenic Reserve Board to help with the task of establishing his dream, but there was tension over their scope. The board wanted to have influence on policy, but Ell regarded them as a mere fund-raising body. By 1915, Ell had secured 23 reserves in the Port Hills by buying private land, and none of these projects had the board's prior approval.
  By the 1930s, the road had been surveyed as far south as the saddle above Pigeon Bay.
  Rest houses were envisaged at regular intervals. The first to be built was the Sign of the Bellbird at Kennedy's Bush in 1914. This was the location of the first scenic reserve that Ell managed to get established in 1906. The Sign of the Packhorse, a smaller house on top of the Kaituna Saddle, was the second one to be established in 1916. The Sign of the Kiwi was the third rest house built by Ell. The Sign of the Takahe was the remaining house to be built.
caption: Harry Ell in October 1914
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