Christchurch – this week in history (31 March – 6 April)

31 March 1863
21 Canterbury military volunteers sail north on “Phoebe” for duty in the Waikato land wars.

1 April 1932
New Regent Street opens, built on the site of the old Colosseum.

1 April 1949
Sign of the Takahe opens. This was the completion of the Summit Road developments begun by Harry Ell in 1908.

5 April 1844
Frederick Tuckett and a party including surveyors, land at Lyttelton from the “Deborah” looking for a suitable site for a Scottish settlement in the South Island. They subsequently got lost in the swamps, so it is not surprising that their eventual choice was Otago, not Canterbury.

6 April 1876
Birth in Auckland of Harold Williams. He was to become one of the world’s greatest ever linguists, speaking 28 languages fluently.

6 April 1982
Premiere of “Roadshow” road safety stage show. The show was later taken on a national tour for 6 months from February 1983. It played to a total audience of over 250,000, probably the biggest of any New Zealand musical show.

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

More March events in our Christchurch chronology.

Picture Books: picks from our latest newsletter

Some picks from our March Picture Books newsletter:

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Men and dogs in the orchard: Picturing Canterbury

Mr. Turner, Bert Gimblett, Jack Beaumont, Jack Salt & dogs in the orchard – 1914 – 1915

• The photos of the Gimblett Collection
• Local pictures on the blog
• Browse our image collection

I found a book at the library! Imagine that!

I was so excited the other day when I discovered that my favourite blogger’s book is available right here at the library – if I hadn’t been in the middle of helping a lovely young mum  search the catalogue  for parenting DVDs I would have SQUEEEEEE!!-ed. Thankfully I managed to contain my enthusiasm  and save us both from embarrassment. I couldn’t wait to get home and start reading!

I’ve been reading Amber Dusick’s Crappy Pictures blog ever since a friend of mine shared her post about toddlers and public toilets which was not only extremely funny, but also reminded me of the time my toddler had to pee while we were shopping, and we were directed to The. Dirtiest. Toilet. Ever.

Amber’s book, which is available as an e-book through Overdrive, is just as funny as her blog. The only thing I didn’t like about it was that I didn’t realise I’d finished – I got to the end of a chapter and thought I’d save the rest for later, only to discover that all that was left was the publication details! One of the pitfalls of reading e-books I suppose.  I have since discovered that there is a little book progress bar that pops up when you tap the middle of the screen, but obviously I hadn’t paid attention to that.

If you are looking for stuff on parenting, whether you want e-books, books, or DVDs we’ve got it covered.

William Harvey, dyer and cleaner : 1902

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We have digitised a rather splendid 1902 publication Tourists’ guide to Canterbury.

Nunchucks and Chinese New Year celebrations at South Learning Centre eBook Club

The South Learning Centre eBook Club were totally inspired by staff member Yang Song. His knowledge, skill and expertise of Chinese New Year, Martial Arts and nunchucks had the children mesmerised.

He explained the harmony between control, the body and skill to ensure that the nunchucks were used for meditation and self discipline rather than weaponry and combat.

Each child made their own nunchucks and learned some difficult coordination skills. Together Yang and the children performed in front of a library audience full of parents, staff and other library customers.

Encyclopedia Britannica gets all flash

We all need a tidy up every once and a while and online resources are no different. Encyclopedia Britannica has moved from dusty heavy paper tomes to an online version that was in need of an upgrade to be honest. Luckily the folks at Britannica have a reputation for striving for the best in information provision so they have cleared the decks and with a bit of spit and polish come up with something as useful as it is gorgeous! Let us welcome …

• Britannica Library Adults: Have a question on anything? The answer lies within.
• Britannica Library Teens: You may already know everything, but you can’t beat how useful Britannica’s images, video, audio and interactive wonderfulness are for school.
• Britannica Library  Kids:  Age appropriate information that is accurate and informative yet still cute.

Have a play and see how in this information-saturated world there are still those who know how to excel. We salute you Britannica!

Christchurch revealed

This week is the last week to catch Underground Overground Archaeology’s exhibition of finds at the South Library. The display is a great way to come face to face with recently rediscovered everyday objects from Christchurch’s past. If you can’t make it along to the library you can also check out Underground Overground’s blog of the work they have been doing digging into numerous demolition sites all over the city.

Together with the fascinating website High Street Stories this blog started me thinking about how much of the intimate history of Christchurch has been revealed since the earthquakes – those fragments that otherwise would have remained lost or stories recorded that might not have been under different circumstances.

As you might imagine, High Street stories is all about the history of this fascinating street, with stories told in video, audio, text and images. You can find out about Ngāi Tahu’s relationship with Ōtākaro (Avon River), the history of the Odeon Theatre and the regeneration of Lichfield Lanes amongst many others. I am not from Christchurch but it is from projects like this that you can get a real sense of how an area has developed and get an impression of what the atmosphere might have been like in the past.

Delving back into Underground Overground’s blog you can find out how archaeological discoveries have been researched and read the stories associated with them that have now come to light. So many of the artefacts that have been discovered seem mundane (lots of bottles!), but when investigated they highlight Christchurch history in a very real and immediate way. For example find out about beer bottles, burlesque houses and the everyday life of early residents.

The physical landscape of Christchurch has totally changed since the earthquakes, but thanks to projects like these – and others – its history and heritage will not be forgotten.

Have any of you used these websites, or any like them, already?

Christchurch – this week in history (24 – 30 March)

24 March 1887
First City Council offices open. This building at the corner of Oxford Terrace and Worcester Street was designed by S. Hurst Seager. It was the first public building in Christchurch to break with the prevailing tradition of Gothic, Classic or Venetian style.

1890

25 March 1879
New Zealand’s first telephones in operation in City.

25 March 1930
New Zealand’s first country library service begins as Canterbury adult rural education scheme under the auspices of the W.E.A.

27 March 1848
Canterbury Association decides to buy land from the New Zealand Company.

27 March 1856
First wool cargo shipped to London from Lyttelton (via Auckland).

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

More March events in our Christchurch Chronology.

Fiction A to Z: picks from our March newsletter

Some picks from our March Fiction A to Z newsletter, including Booker Prize winner Thomas Keneally’s latest, Shame and the Captives, and the well-reviewed Saving Mozart by Raphael Jérusalmy.

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