Key Anniversaries

Anniversaries celebrated in 2009

150 years ago (1859)

  • The Public Library began as the Mechanics Institute
  • The first meeting of the Canterbury Provincial Council was held in the purpose built Provincial Government Buildings
  • Formation of the Canterbury Rifles, the first military force in the Province. Now known as the Second Canterbury, Nelson, Marlborough, West Coast Battalion Group
  • St Luke's in the City – laying of the first church foundation stone

125 years ago (1884)

  • New "Press" building in operation in Cathedral Square. Designed by J. J. Collins and R.D. Harman, it was the city's first ferro-concrete building
  • St Luke's in the City – consecration of the stone church

50 years ago (1959)

  • Princess Margaret Hospital opens
  • City Council grants charter to the Canterbury Regiment
  • Memorial Avenue officially opens

30 years ago (1979)

  • RNZAF national aviation museum officially established at Wigram
  • Completion of airport international arrivals terminal, stage 1 (arrival hall)
  • Lyttelton road tunnel becomes toll-free

Memorial Avenue – Opened 50 years ago

Memorial Avenue was officially opened on 26 November 1959 by the Governor General Viscount Cobham. The name had been adopted a few years earlier by the Waimairi County Council as suggested by the Burnside Road Memorial Committee. Memorial Avenue is dedicated to the memory of Christchurch men and women who had lost their lives in Dominion and allied armed services during World War II. Many of these people had trained at Harewood Airport before going overseas. The chairman of the Burnside Road Memorial Highway Committee, Mr Laing, appealed to users of the avenue to think at least once as they passed along it that it was a memorial. The avenue of trees should be regarded as a symbol of life.

Source: christchurchcitylibraries.com/heritage/localhistory/fendalton/memorial.asp

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