Heritage

Christchurch: a chronology

A timeline of Christchurch events in chronological order from pre-European times to 1989.

Go to a year between 1700 & 1989

Begin at the beginning Start here

This week in history

June 19, 1857
Complaints reported that the Avon and Heathcote Rivers are becoming clogged with watercress. Provincial Council approves £1500 for clearance. Watercress appears to have been introduced by the ship “Compte de Paris” to Akaroa in 1841, and from there to the Avon by William Deans in 1850.
June 19, 1882
First trials of electric lighting at Lyttelton wharves.
June 20, 1928
Canterbury Aero Club formed. The first pilot trained by the club was a woman, Aroha Clifford. She may have been New Zealand’s first woman pilot.
June 21, 1851
Christchurch Cricket Club formed.
June 21, 1851
Road from Christchurch to Riccarton completed.
June 21, 1890
Artist Petrus Van der Velden arrives and settles.
June 21, 1897
Huge celebrations for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee include the official opening of Victoria Park on the Port Hills and the transformation of Market (Victoria) Square by the City Council and the newly formed Christchurch Beautifying Association. The square, once the commercial centre of Christchurch, had contained many early public buildings and services including a prison, immigration barracks, an animal pound and the first post office. See 1903 for change of name.
June 21, 1909
City’s high pressure water supply in operation.
June 21, 1989
Redcliffs man Roger Manson receives new heart and lungs at London's Harefield Hospital.
June 22-24, 1901
Visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York. (Later King George V and Queen Mary).
June 22, 1851
Pioneers Edward and Henry Ward drowned in Lyttelton Harbour. A brother, Crosbie Ward, later became the city’s best known satirical poet.
June 22, 1954
Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme murder Parker’s mother in Victoria Park. Their subsequent trial was one of the most sensational in the city’s history.
June 22, 1988
Visit by Queen Sofia and King Juan Carlos of Spain.
June 23, 1854
Pioneer John Deans dies at Riccarton. The preservation of Deans Bush was one of his dying wishes.
June 23, 1863
First cab stand in City, on the corner of Colombo and High Streets.
June 24, 1905
Railway derailment at Chaneys, near Kaiapoi, kills 2.
June 24, 1981
First Metro Refuse transfer station (Sockburn) in operation.
June 25, 1934
Death of Harry Ell. The uncompleted Summit Road and Sign of the Takahe projects were taken over by his son. See 1938 and 1949.
June 25, 1941
German minelayer "Adjutant" lays mines in the approaches to Lyttelton Harbour. But this German claim is unsupported - no trace of the mines was ever found.

Notes