New Zealand - Geraldine - Geraldine Primary School - Standard 4 - 1974 Do you have more information about the school or the people in this photo? Please use the comment section below to share. To search for other photos from this school, please type the schools name in to our search engine. Geraldine - A town in the Canterbury region - About 140 km south of Christchurch - There is evidence of Māori travels through the Geraldine area and artifacts and carvings have been discovered in the nearby areas of Beautiful Valley, Gapes Valley and Kakahu. - The area was part of the continuous Canterbury Purchase or Kemp's Deed whereby over thirteen million acres was purchased by Henry Tacy Kemp on behalf of the Crown from Ngāi Tahu for £2,000 in 1848 - The town which up until 1857 was known as Talbot Forest was firstly named Fitzgerald in honor of James FitzGerald, the first Superintendent of the Canterbury Province. However, this was later changed to Geraldine though the exact reasoning for this is unknown - Growth in the township was slow at first with separate towns being constructed such as Healey Town in present-day south Geraldine, Maslin Town between Kennedy and Hislop Street and the German settlement known as German Town on the Downs (Reference: Wikipedia)