Heritage

Christchurch: a chronology

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

Go to a year between 1700 & 1989

Begin at the beginning Start here

This week in history

October 26, 1796
Whaling ship “Mermaid” sights Kaikoura Mountains.
October 26, 1863
Chamber of Commerce transfers from Lyttelton.
October 26, 1980
City Council gives land at Cuthberts Green to the trustees of new Ngā Hau E Whā National Marae.
October 26, 1982
Old library re-opens as Library Chambers (architect Don Donnithorne).
October 27, 1983
New office building on the corner of Manchester and Kilmore Streets has New Zealand’s first exterior lift.
October 28, 1882
Linwood Town Board formed.
October 28, 1978
Pioneer Sports Stadium opens. See 1879.
October 28, 1985
110 vehicles stolen over Labour Weekend in the Canterbury district. Police claim it as a record.
October 29, 1830
Te Rauparaha charters the “Elizabeth” (under the unscrupulous Captain Stewart) and sails for Akaroa.
October 29, 1877
Sydenham Borough formed.
October 29, 1891
General Booth of the Salvation Army visits.
October 30, 1857
Tunnel advocate William Sefton Moorhouse elected as the provinces’s second Superintendent. He resigned in 1863 because of personal financial mismanagement, but later served a second term of office from 1866 to 1868.
October 30, 1979
University of Canterbury gives old university site to the Arts Centre Trust Board.
October 30, 1985
Mid-Canterbury farmers slaughter 2,500 ewes in protest at the low prices they are receiving for their sheep.
October 30, 1985
Writer-in-Residence at Canterbury University, Keri Hulme wins internationally prestigious "Booker McConnell" prize for her novel "The Bone People".
October 31, 1912
Opening of Queen’s Theatre, the city’s first purposebuilt picture theatre. The building is now the M. W. Arcade.
October 31, 1913
National waterfront strike affects Lyttelton.
October 31, 1979
USN Starlifter crash lands at airport - no-one hurt.
November 1, 1876
Provincial Government abolished. The 9 provinces were replaced by 64 counties under the first Counties Act.
November 1, 1881
Christchurch Cathedral (still uncompleted) dedicated.
November 1, 1900
Canterbury Jubilee Exhibition opens in the new Canterbury Exhibition Hall, Manchester Street. See 1924.
November 1, 1903
Christchurch to Invercargill rail express service begins.
November 1, 1906
New Zealand International Exhibition (the biggest in the country to that time) opens in Hagley Park. Over 1 million people visited the exhibition during the next few months. A branch railway line was built across North Hagley Park to service the exhibition. The attractions included New Zealand’s first professional symphony orchestra [conducted by Alfred Hill], and the first Dominion pipe band contest which was won by the Dunedin Highland Pipe Band.
November 1, 1921
Woolston Borough joins City.
November 1, 1960
New railway station opens. The building had been designed before W.W.II.
November 1, 1963
Airport runway extensions begin.
November 1, 1969
Ministry of Transport takes over traffic enforcement from City Council.
November 1, 1989
New Christchurch City Council established by amalgamation of the old City, Waimairi District, Riccarton Borough, Heathcote County and parts of Paparua and Eyre Counties.

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