Christchurch – this week in history (17 – 23 March)

Dr Barker gave up practising medicine after the death of his wife, Emma, in 1858 and photography became his career. With the wet-plate process, developing had to be carried out almost immediately and so he designed this four-wheeled buggy which incorporated a mobile dark-room.18 March 1850

18 March 1850
Jollie completes survey and plan of Christchurch.

20 March 1873
Death of pioneer doctor and photographer Dr A.C. Barker.

21 March 1848
Canterbury Association formed in London.

22 March 1975
3000 joggers take part in the first City-to-Surf fun run.

22 March 1894
First “local option” poll fails to achieve liquor prohibition in Christchurch.

23 March 1827
Edward Gibbon Wakefield, later to be the architect of the Canterbury settlement, tried and imprisoned in England for abduction.

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

More March events in our Christchurch Chronology.

St Patrick’s Day without the green beer

It sometimes seems like St Patrick’s Day in New Zealand is yet another excuse to overindulge in beer – and green beer at that. Not a good idea as far as I’m concerned. Do you celebrate St Patrick’s Day? Do you know if you have Irish ancestry?

Before you join the ranks of the green beer drinkers you can find out if you have Irish in your family tree by visiting our great online resources like Find my past Ireland and the British Newspaper Archive.

For a small country, Ireland has had a great influence across the world as the Irish diaspora has spread through many countries. Music and language are the great passions of Ireland and from this has come a great stream of writers, lawyers, politicians and musicians both traditional and popular.

Though I claim no Irish roots, I’ve always loved the traditional music that has been popularized by such great groups as the Chieftains. So perhaps instead of green beer I’ll celebrate St Patrick’s Day by listening to the Chieftains, reading a poem by Yeats and having a laugh with the black humour of Colin Bateman.

Margaret Mahy Miscellany

March 21 is the 78^th anniversary of the birth of Margaret Mahy. Although it has been nearly two years since she passed away on July 23 2012, her name is still in the news.

Plans are full steam ahead for the Margaret Mahy Family Playground. Billed as ‘the most amazing playground’ the city has ever seen, it promises activity zones aimed at different ages, comfortable places for adults to supervise and relax, and challenging play equipment, all inspired by the stories of Margaret Mahy.

It’s almost time for the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards to begin. The finalists will be announced on Tuesday 8 April, and the winners will be announced on Monday 23 June. The supreme winner wins the title of New Zealand Post Margaret Mahy Book of the Year, and an additional $7500 prize. The award was re-named in honour of Margaret Mahy in 2013 and Into the River by Ted Dawe won the inaugural award.

If you are itching for some Margaret Mahy screen goodness, you can check out full episodes of her award-winning TV adaptions and scripts on NZ On Screen:

The Haunting of Barney Palmer
Which ’80s kid wasn’t totally freaked out by this spooky film?

Strangers
This thriller inspired many a secret gang and clubhouse in the playground.

Cuckoo Land
If you haven’t seen this psychedelic, video-effect laden show, narrated by Paul Holmes, you should stop reading this and check it out immediately. I don’t remember seeing it as a kid, possibly because my parents thought it was some sort of medication-induced hallucination.

For the full list of Margaret Mahy media, head over to the NZ On Screen site.

If watching these makes you want to get back into some the source material, check out our full list of Margaret Mahy titles  on our catalogue and revisit some childhood favourites.

Then get onto our Margaret Mahy pages and check out the latest, and sadly last, titles published by this Kiwi taonga.