Springston is a small rural Canterbury town in the South Island of New Zealand Springston was developed around the mid-19th century, beginning with the establishment of Spring Station by James E. FitzGerald, who farmed there from 1853 to 1857, and then again from 1860 to 1867. The first building in the village was a Methodist church, which opened in 1866. Walter Lawry, who emigrated with his wife and 10 children to New Zealand in 1862, was Methodist preacher in Springston for 50 years.