Did you know that Burnett Street was once the “Fleet Street” of Ashburton where newspapers and printers plied their trade? Or that Tancred Street was the entertainment part of town?

Snippets of Ashburton’s colourful past have been brought to life on history panels unveiled for the public this week.

The panels are a joint project involving the Ashburton District Council, Historic Places Mid Canterbury, the Ashburton Museum and Historical Society and others representing the community.

Mayor Neil Brown said it was a great collaboration that ensured some of the district’s history was on permanent show.

The four history panels are on East Street, one opposite the clock tower and the others at the intersections of Burnett, Tancred and Moore Streets. They have been designed to capture the attention of pedestrians.

Ashburton Museum and Historical Society president Glenn Vallender said the organisation had collected the town’s history for decades and was pleased to see some of it on display this way.

He said Baring Square East development had been led by construction of the railway in 1874 and the town had many stories to tell.

Each panel also has a QR code that connects to the Ashburton Museum’s online materials page.

The panel at East and Burnett Street talks about Burnett Street’s base for newspapers. The town’s first paper was the Ashburton Mail, which started in 1877; the street is still home to the town’s news media.

Tancred Street was once home to a general store, two boarding houses and a restaurant, while Moore Street was where the Wakanui Road Board and other early forms of local government did business.

Council Community Services Group Manager Steve Fabish said the Heritage Mid Canterbury working group that decided on the final content for the signs spent a lot of time discussing stories that would capture interest.

“Hopefully everyone who walks past these signs will stop and learn something about their town. We hope many will scan the QR code and discover even more.

“This has been a great collaborative project and many people have given their expertise, which we really appreciated.”

Those at the unveiling received a special guided tour of the panels yesterday, with commentary from the museum's Connor Lysaght; he described a fire that raged on the block between Burnett Street and Tancred Street in 1892 and a tornado that ripped through Tancred Street in 1903.

There are plans to produce four more panels that can be exchanged on a regular basis, to keep up interest.

The panels are fixed onto frames made by the Ashburton MenzShed.