A) Historic Immigration barracks

Start your walk at the historic immigration barracks.

Located beside the Lyttelton Harbour Information Centre, the site of the historic barracks is marked with a plaque at the entrance to the Baden Norris Reserve (named after a local historian who started the Lyttelton Museum). 

The immigration barracks were built to house the newly arriving settlers in 1850. With a capacity to house 300 people, they were inundated when the first four ships brought 700 immigrants and tents were erected to deal with additional numbers.

The building situated there also served as the school, church and town hall for wealthier settlers. 

The building is no longer present having been demolished in 1876, but benches at the reserve provide an opportunity to sit and reflect on how it must have felt arriving at such a busy site.

The building that houses the Information Centre next door has historical and social significance as a late Victorian commercial building and also sits on the site of the historic immigration barracks.  Go to the next building Historic Police Station