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1880
- March 1
- School for the Deaf (now Van Asch College) opens in Sumner. Director Gerrit van Asch introduced oral teaching methods to New Zealand.
- March 9
- First steam trams begin operation from Cathedral Square to the railway station.
- April 17
- First championship cycle meeting, Hagley Park.
- April 17
- Inter-city brass band contest (New Zealand’s first) and choral competition draws an audience of 2500 to the Drill Hall. The winner was the Invercargill Garrison Band.
- July 8
- Canterbury Society of Arts formed.
- July 19
- Lincoln College opens - the first agricultural college in the Southern Hemisphere.
- July
- Industrial Exhibition opens.
- November 11
- Christchurch Amateur Swimming Club formed (the first in New Zealand).
- (no date)
- Sarah and Alfred Rudkin begin small factory. It eventually became Lane Walker Rudkin.
