A view looking down on the wharves at Lyttelton with the harbour beyond and mountains in the distance. The wharves have railway lines running down to them and freight cars can be seen beside the harbour. This would seem to date the photograph after 1877, when the Lyttelton Harbour Board was constituted and many improvements in facilities were made, including direct shipment onto railway wagons for transportation to Christchurch 10 miles to the north.