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

This week in history

July 22, 1918

After heavy snow - 175mm (7inches) - Christchurch experiences its coldest day on record. The temperature did not rise above 1 deg C.

July 22, 1947

Visit by Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery.

July 23, 1851

Pioneer William Deans among 28 lost in the wreck of the “Maria” in Cook Strait. Godley had tried to deprive the Deans and Hay families of their farms because he wanted only Anglicans to own land in the new settlement. The Deans brothers had sold sheep to pay the legal costs of fighting Godley’s high handed action, and William Deans was travelling to Sydney to buy replacement stock.

July 23, 1857

First dramatic presentation in Canterbury, which featured Mrs Foley in “The Loan of a Lover” and “Betsy Baker” at the Lyttelton Town Hall.

July 23, 1935

2nd concert by violinist Yehudi Menuhin (already famous at only 17).

July 23, 1987

Lotto sales start.

July 24, 1884

YMCA building opens on the site of the present Police Station.

July 24, 1983

New Zealand’s first "test-tube" twins born at Christchurch Hospital.

July 25, 1903

City Council generates Christchurch’s first public electricity from a generator driven by the municipal refuse destructor. This eventually led to the formation of the Municipal Electricity Department, which was derived from the City Engineer’s Department in 1925.

July 26, 1879

Canterbury Rugby Football Association (New Zealand’s first) formed.

July 26, 1924

Open air classrooms in use at Fendalton Primary School.

July 27, 1851

Storm wrecks 6 ships in Lyttelton Harbour.

July 27, 1893

Woolston becomes a Borough.

July 28, 1964

Rolleston Avenue trees cut down by City Council, at the request of Christ’s College Board. Intense public protest follows.

July 28, 1986

Grenadier Hotel demolished in Oxford Terrace. Formerly The Royal, it was the third hotel on this site since 1851.

Notes

• Information for this resource was based on the second edition of John Densem’s Christchurch chronology: a history of settlement. Environmental Policy and Planning Policy Unit, Christchurch City Council, 1990.
  More about the Christchurch Chronology.
• This resource includes links to various other local history resources on our websites and images from our photographs collection - clicking on the image will take you to a larger version of that image.