Christchurch: A Chronology to 1989

A timeline of some Christchurch events in chronological order from 1700s to 1989.

Go to a year between 1700 & 1989

November 18, 1874: Addington saleyards open.
November 18, 1947: Disastrous fire in Ballantynes Department store. 41 lives lost in New Zealand’s worst fire tragedy. The fire led to drastic revisions of fire safety codes throughout the country.
November 21, 1865: Provincial Council buildings in Durham Street completed. The complex of buildings was architect B.W. Mountfort’s masterpiece. He had survived a professional disaster soon after arrival in New Zealand when his first building, a church in Lyttelton, had proved structurally unsound and had to be demolished.
November 21, 1957: 4 killed in SAFE Air Bristol freighter crash at Russley golf course.
November 21, 1988: Visit by Chinese Premier Li Peng.
November 22, 1986: Visit by Pope John Paul II (the first head of the Catholic Church to visit New Zealand).
November 22, 1987: "Trans Alpine" express train designed specifically for the tourist trade, begins its daily run from Christchurch to Greymouth.
November 23, 1984: The first woman to head the Methodist Church is Rev Dr Phyllis Guthardt a Christchurch Minister from Riccarton Parish. See 1959
November 23, 1988: Human remains dating back to pre-European Maori settlement found while excavating for YMCA building on the corner of Hereford Street and Rolleston Avenue. Area declared tapu for 24 hours until remains removed.
November 24, 1881: St Albans Borough formed.