Welcome to Beca Heritage Week 2010

It is unfortunate and saddening that many heritage buildings and places were damaged in the Canterbury earthquake on September 4th. Now more than ever, it's time to band together and appreciate the unique heritage this city boasts.
This year's Beca Heritage Week will still be a time of celebration in Christchurch, with a number of fun activities and events planned. But it will also be a chance to rally together in support of heritage recovery.

This October we invite you to take a fresh look at the settlement of Christchurch and Canterbury – when settlers arrived, what adventures they had and the discoveries they made. The week's activities aim to raise awareness of this city's special heritage places and the importance of conserving them.

The theme On the Horizon: Rediscover the Settlement of our City is a celebration of the region's unique history. It relates to the history of O-Tautahi and its occupation by the Maori tribe Waitaha and later Ngati Mamoe, then Ngai Tahu. It also tells the stories of the European settlers who began to arrive here around 170 years ago.

On the Horizon provides the opportunity to explore cultural landscapes, past ways of life and the progression toward suburban life. There are many unique layers of Christchurch's settlement which have impacted on the city – some have left tangible reminders, while others are less evident.

This year's events encompass a wide range of elements relating to the settlement of our city, including quarantine stations, early telegraph communication, the quarrying of stone to build many of our early buildings, the campaign for women's suffrage, the establishment of a fire service and the importance of the whaling and cocksfooting industries in Banks Peninsula.

The key events will be back again this year, including the Ambassadors Award to signify the opening, Bailies Bar Quiz Night and an exhibition at Our City O-Tautahi. Other key events include the Orton Bradley Spring Fair and Grubb Cottage – a colonial experience, Escape from the Zoo, a theatrical event at the Botanical Gardens and the New Zealand Fire Service's 150th anniversary street parade and display in Cathedral Square.

The Heritage Week community event support fund was introduced for the first time last year and we are pleased to have offered it again in 2010. And this year, for the first time, we welcome events happening in Christchurch's neighbouring Waimakariri and Selwyn districts into this programme booklet.

Once again, we are grateful to the generosity and creativity of all the community event organisers who have put a lot of thought and planning into offering quality events during Beca Heritage Week. Heritage Week is core-funded by Christchurch City Council with support from local sponsors including Beca, our principal sponsor since 2007. We also acknowledge Karen Hamilton and her team from 360 Degree Events who provided the overall project management, planning and delivery of key events.

Heritage Week Management Group 2010

Message from Beca

Beca is again happy to be supporting Christchurch City Council's Beca Heritage Week as principal sponsor. As we turn to celebrating our heritage following the September 4th earthquake, we'll all be mindful of how our indomitable Canterbury spirit is to the fore in terms of emotional recovery and community restoration. This year's theme – On the Horizon: Rediscover the Settlement of our City – is an opportunity to reflect on and learn about the people and events that have contributed to the city we choose to live in and call home.

Beca's growth from modest beginnings in New Zealand over 90 years ago to today as being one of the largest employee-owned engineering and related consultancy groups in the Asia Pacific region has been underpinned by pioneering design and innovation.

This ethos has a strong alignment with the spirit of adventure and discovery shown by the settlers as they faced the challenges of establishing our city, so we feel a very real affinity with this year's theme. Our heritage is very much a New Zealand story.

This spirit is obvious among all Cantabrians as we rebuild together. Beca staff were part of the Civil Defence emergency management team and Beca engineers also helped with the initial structural assessment of more than 400 buildings in the weeks immediately following the earthquake. Our work is ongoing.

We are committed to long-term relationships and providing excellence and this commitment is underpinned by our core values of partnership, tenacity, enjoyment and care. From our Christchurch Office, our team of more than 150 employees offer engineering, planning and related management consultancy services across a broad spectrum of sectors, making a tangible contribution to our community, city and province.

I would like to acknowledge our appreciation of the Christchurch City Council's Heritage, Communications and Marketing teams, and the numerous community volunteers who take part in Beca Heritage Week. As we reconstruct our city and region together, we are helping to create the infrastructure and buildings of today which will form our heritage of the future.

Craig Price
Regional Manager – South Island

Message from the Mayor

Congratulations to all those who helped organise Beca Heritage Week 2010, which is now in its 18th year. This will be an opportunity to recognise and celebrate the unique layers of Christchurch's history of discovery, settlement, adventure and exploration. Unfortunately the earthquake on 4 September damaged some of Christchurch's unique heritage buildings. However the Council is committed to working in partnership with heritage and character building owners to maintain and restore the building’s unique characteristics.

Heritage buildings will be considered carefully in rebuilding plans. I am delighted that at this challenging time for our city we are going ahead with Beca Heritage Week 2010. It will be a community celebration and an opportunity to raise the profile of Christchurch and Banks Peninsula heritage groups, as well as Maori heritage directly connected to this theme. Events held as part of the week intend to attract young people and families as well as traditional heritage followers.

A number of anniversaries being marked this year relate to this interesting aspect of our past. Stories and tangible reminders of early Maori and European settlement will be highlighted, and the 180th anniversary of the Brig Elizabeth incident at Takapu-neke will be marked – a formative event in the route to British sovereignty of New Zealand.

Christchurch as a base for Antarctic expeditions (marking 100 years since Scott's final Antarctic expedition left from Lyttelton), and a place of great discoveries (Haley's Comet was visible from Christchurch 100 years ago) and discoverers (such as scientist Ernest Rutherford) will also be explored.

Around 75 heritage-related events are on offer during Beca Heritage Week. Council is offering six key events, a number of which are in partnership with other organisations. I am particularly pleased that this year organisers have welcomed events by Greater Christchurch Urban Development Strategy (UDS)
partners to the Heritage Week programme of events.

I look forward to another highly enjoyable Beca Heritage Week in the city.

Bob Parker
Christchurch Mayor