13 November 1849
Royal Charter granted for the incorporation of the Canterbury Association.
15 November 1851
White Hart Hotel (possibly the city’s first) in operation.
Proposed design for the White Hart Hotel, High Street, Christchurch [1902], CCL PhotoCD 6, IMG0074More November events in the Christchurch chronology: a timeline of Christchurch events in chronological order from pre-European times to 1989.
2 November 1899
Balloonist Captain Lorraine lost at sea after an ascent from Lancaster Park.
Balloonist Captain Lorraine shown in his first successful ascent in Christchurch [1899], CCL PhotoCD 6, IMG00772 November 1914 Riccarton (Deans) Bush presented to the city by the Deans family.
4 November 1876
Night cycle races held at Lancaster Park. The experiment was not a success – the gas illumination was completely inadequate.
4 November 1989
Record crowd of 60,000 at Lancaster Park to see Irish Rock Band U2.
5 November 1979
Regent Theatre gutted by fire.
6 November 1830 Te Rauparaha‘s war party massacres the inhabitants of Akaroa and returns to Kapiti Island.
6 November 1918
Beginning of the influenza epidemic which was eventually to kill 466 people in Christchurch.
People using the inhalation chamber in the Government Buildings in Cathedral Square, Christchurch [1918], CCL PhotoCD 2, IMG00528 November 8 1956
Last trolley bus runs.
More November events in the Christchurch chronology: a timeline of Christchurch events in chronological order from pre-European times to 1989.
Canterbury Public Library exterior. Taken from across Cambridge Terrace, showing Postal Centre behind the Library and Police building on the left Between 1973 and 1981, Flickr, Arch-52-PH-07-23
27 October 27 1983
New office building on the corner of Manchester and Kilmore Streets has New Zealand’s first exterior lift.
28 October 1978
Pioneer Sports Stadium opens. See 1879.
29 October 1830 Te Rauparaha charters the “Elizabeth” (under the unscrupulous Captain Stewart) and sails for Akaroa.
30 October 1985 Writer-in-Residence at Canterbury University, Keri Hulme wins internationally prestigious Booker McConnell prize for her novel The Bone People.
31 October 1912
Opening of Queen’s Theatre, the city’s first purposebuilt picture theatre. The building was latterly the M. W. Arcade.
1 November 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.
General front view of the Exhibition [1906], Phil R. Presants, New Zealand International Exhibition Souvenir, [1906], [p 2]1 November 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.
More October and November events in the Christchurch chronology: a timeline of Christchurch events in chronological order from pre-European times to 1989.
20 October 1948
“Pleasure Garden” art controversy begins when a Frances Hodgkins painting (done in about 1933) is exhibited at “the Group” show. This fierce debate on art style was joined by people throughout New Zealand. It raged for 3 years until the City Council accepted the painting as a gift on September 3, 1951.
22 October 1863
First Agricultural and Pastoral Association show in showgrounds (which is now Sydenham Park). An “unofficial” show had been held in October, 1862.
22 October 1985
“Elizabeth” the one tonne sea elephant dies of a viral infection on Sumner Beach. She had lived for 5 years on the City’s beaches, estuary and rivers and was often found crawling up suburban streets. She was immortalised in 2014 in Elizabeth, Queen of the Seas by Lynne Cox.
23 October 1874 Canterbury Club building (designed by Frederick Strouts) inaugurated.
The Canterbury Club on the corner of Worcester Street and Cambridge Terrace : in background is Canterbury Museum [ca. 1882], CCL PhotoCD 13, IMG006024 October 1870
Disastrous fire (New Zealand’s most extensive to that date) destroys the centre of Lyttelton.
25 October 1986
“Qin Shihuang” (Chinese Buried Army) exhibition opens at the McDougall Art Gallery. 71,145 people visited the exhibition over a seven week period.
More October events in the Christchurch chronology: a timeline of Christchurch events in chronological order from pre-European times to 1989.
12 October 1939
Battery point guns in Lyttelton Harbour accidentally sink fishing boat “Dolphin”. 1 man killed.
13 October 1986 Sir Hamish Hay begins his fifth and final term as Mayor of Christchurch.
14 October 1989
Vicki Buck, first woman and youngest to be elected, wins Christchurch Mayoralty.
15 October 1881 Lancaster Park opens. This privately owned development was built so that sports clubs could charge admission fees to games.
Some of the 13,000 spectators leaving Lancaster Park after the second test match between New South Wales and New Zealand, 1 Sept. 1923, CCL PhotoCD 8, IMG0076
9 October 1962 Christchurch Town Hall site chosen in Kilmore Street. Assisted by advice from visiting Professor Gordon Stephenson, the unanimously accepted proposal ended years of dispute over this choice. Other sites considered were the old public library site in Hereford Street and an area near Latimer Square. Another often debated site was Victoria Square.
10 October 1885
Life insurance fraud (The Case of the Severed Hand) at Taylor’s Mistake. The perpetrator, Arthur Howard, was sentenced to 2 years’ prison on April 11 the following year.
11 October 1988
“The Wizard” wages war against the “Tasteless tyrants of Telecom” by repainting the new blue telephone boxes traditional red.
11 October 1989
Waitangi Tribunal Hearing of land claim by Ngai Tahu closes at Tuahiwi Marae.
The Ngai Tahu land claims : a South Island hui : Maori gathering at Tuahiwi, North Canterbury. [1925], CCL PhotoCD 7, IMG0001More October events in the Christchurch chronology: a timeline of Christchurch events in chronological order from pre-European times to 1989.
28 September 1864
Re-built Victoria Bridge opens. It is probably the country’s first iron and stone bridge.
29 September 1978
Friendship Corner opens by the Bridge of Remembrance. After a heated public debate over whether the area should be used for parking, the Council decided to plant the area with trees representing Christchurch’s sister cities.
21 September 1867
Trout introduced from Tasmania. The ova were reared in special covered ponds built in Hagley Park next to the hospital. Salmon were introduced a year later.
23 September 1914
First Canterbury contingent sails on Tahiti and Athenic from Lyttelton for the war in Europe.
24 September 1881
Telephone exchange (the first in New Zealand) begins operation.
24 September 1960
Jellie Park Pool opens.
26 September 1897
Reading of the Riot Act to an angry crowd of about 6000 in Lichfield Street as a result of religious imposter A.B. Worthington’s “Temple of Truth” fraud. Beginning in 1890, Worthington’s sect had built a ”grecian temple“ in Latimer Square. See Disturbance in the city, The Star, 27 September 1897 via Papers Past.
26 September 1945 Charles Hazlett Upham (born Christchurch 1908) awarded second V.C. for gallantry in the Western Desert, 1942. He won his previous award in Crete during May 1941.
14 September 1976
Inter-island ferry service from Lyttelton ends with the last sailing of the Rangatira.
15 September 1975
Christchurch (Dorset, England), becomes a sister city.
16 September 1864
Opening of second Town Hall, built of stone next to the first hall in High Street.
The old town halls, High Street, Christchurch [between 1864 and 1882], CCL PhotoCD 10, IMG002018 September 1980 Theatre Royal bought by Theatre Royal Charitable Foundation to be renovated and preserved as a theatre.
19 September 1865
South Island Separation Bill defeated in Parliament by 31 votes to 17. Find out more in Papers Past, including report on the Separation Debate, Daily Southern Cross, 21 September 1865.
19 September 1904 Concert by pianist Jan Paderewski. He later became Prime Minister of Poland. Read Bernice’s blog post on President Paderewski.
11 September 1889
Cave and Māori artifacts discovered at Moncks Spur.
11 September 1928
Kingsford-Smith and his crew (Ulm, Litchfield and McWilliams) land at Wigram in “Southern Cross” after the first trans-Tasman flight. A crowd of 30,000, alerted by all-night radio broadcasts, had gathered at the airfield.
The Southern Cross. [10 September 1928], CCL PhotoCD 17, IMG001512 September 1910
G.W. Skellerup founds Para Rubber Company, New Zealand’s first retail rubber goods business at 175 Manchester Street. Christchurch soon became the centre of the rubber industry in New Zealand.
13 September 1877 Christchurch Girls High School (designed by Thomas Cane) opens on the corner of Hereford Street and Rolleston Avenue. The school moved to its present Cranmer Square site in 1881. The original school is now part of the Arts Centre. The Cranmer Square building was demolished in 2011.
Christchurch Girls’ High School, Armagh Street, Christchurch [192-?], CCL PhotoCD 17, IMG001713 September 1882
Woolston Town Board formed.
More September events in the Christchurch chronology: a timeline of Christchurch events in chronological order from pre-European times to 1989.
![Edmonds Band Rotunda, viewed from Oxford Terrace [ca. 1930]](https://i0.wp.com/christchurchcitylibraries.com/heritage/photos/disc10/IMG0072.jpg)
![Proposed design for the White Hart Hotel, High Street, Christchurch [1902]](https://i0.wp.com/christchurchcitylibraries.com/Heritage/Photos/Disc6/IMG0074.jpg)
![Balloonist Captain Lorraine shown in his first successful ascent in Christchurch [1899]](https://i0.wp.com/christchurchcitylibraries.com/heritage/photos/disc6/IMG0077.jpg)
![People using the inhalation chamber in the Government Buildings in Cathedral Square, Christchurch [1918]](https://i0.wp.com/christchurchcitylibraries.com/Heritage/Photos/Disc2/IMG0052.jpg)
![The Canterbury Club on the corner of Worcester Street and Cambridge Terrace : in background is Canterbury Museum [ca. 1882], CCL PhotoCD 13, IMG0060](https://i0.wp.com/christchurchcitylibraries.com/Heritage/Photos/Disc13/IMG0060.jpg)
![Photo of The Ngai Tahu land claims : a South Island hui : Maori gathering at Tuahiwi, North Canterbury. [1925]](https://i0.wp.com/christchurchcitylibraries.com/heritage/photos/disc7/IMG0001.jpg)
![Canterbury Museum, Rolleston Avenue, Christchurch [ca. 1885], CCL PhotoCD 12, IMG0090](https://i0.wp.com/christchurchcitylibraries.com/heritage/photos/disc12/IMG0090.jpg)
![The old town halls, High Street, Christchurch [between 1864 and 1882], CCL PhotoCD 10, IMG0020](https://i0.wp.com/christchurchcitylibraries.com/heritage/photos/disc10/IMG0020.jpg)
![The Southern Cross. [10 September 1928], CCL PhotoCD 17, IMG0015](https://i0.wp.com/christchurchcitylibraries.com/heritage/photos/disc17/IMG0015.jpg)
![Christchurch Girls' High School, Armagh Street, Christchurch [192-?], CCL PhotoCD 17, IMG0017](https://i0.wp.com/christchurchcitylibraries.com/heritage/photos/disc17/IMG0017.jpg)
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