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The first people to live in the place now known as Christchurch were moa hunters, who probably arrived there as early as AD 1000
By 1800 the Ngāi Tūāhuriri sub-tribe of Ngāi Tahu were in control of the coast from the Hurunui River in the north to Lake Ellesmere in the south. -
On 16 February 1770 Captain James Cook in his ship the Endeavour first sighted the Canterbury peninsula.
It was probably not until 1815 when sailors from the sealing ship Governor Bligh landed that Europeans first set foot on Banks Peninsula.
In May 1840 Major Thomas Bunbury arrived on the HMS Herald to collect the signatures of the Ngāi Tahu chiefs for the Treaty of Waitangi. -
The first attempt at settling on the plains was made by James Herriot of Sydney. He arrived with two small groups of farmers in April 1840. Their first crop was successful, but a plague of rats made them decide to leave.
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n November 1847 John Robert Godley and Edward Gibbon Wakefield met to plan the Canterbury settlement.Early in 1848 the Canterbury Association was formed, and it was decided to name the capital city Christchurch after the college John Godley had gone to at Oxford University.
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In December Captain Joseph Thomas, a surveyor, was sent to Canterbury to choose a site for the Canterbury settlement, and prepare for the first settlers. By the time that John Robert Godley, leader of the Canterbury settlement arrived with his family on the Lady Nugent on 12 April 1850, Captain Thomas had built a jetty, customs house and barracks accommodation for the newly arrived settlers.
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Within a year eight chartered Canterbury Association ships and another seven privately backed ships had arrived, bringing the population of the settlement to three thousand.
Many new arrivals did not stay in town, but moved out onto the plains, where the land was good for sheep and cattle farming
On 30 June 1852 the New Zealand Constitution Act was passed in England. New Zealand was divided into six provinces, each with their own administration, including an elected Superintendent. -
Under the new provincial system, Canterbury’s first superintendent was James Edward Fitzgerald, elected on 20 July 1853.
During the time he was superintendent, the sale of the back-country runs gave the Provincial Council a regular source of money.
Canterbury prospered in these years, with wool exports steadily increasing the amount of money available in the province. -
Canterbury’s growing wealth and prosperity during the boom years of 1857-64 had a big effect on the city. More banks opened Christchurch branches (Bank of New South Wales in 1861, Bank of New Zealand in 1862, and the Bank of Australasia in 1864).
New Zealand’s first telegraph opened in July 1863 between Christchurch and Lyttelton.
Christchurch Hospital opened in 1862, and New Zealand’s first medical association was founded by Christchurch doctors in 1865. -
Connecting the city and port was still a problem, and Moorhouse’s solution was to build a railway tunnel through the Port Hills to link Christchurch and Lyttelton. The Provincial Council finally agreed, and work began in 1860, coming to an early halt when harder than expected rock was struck during tunnelling.On 9 December 1867 the tunnel was officially opened as New Zealand’s first rail tunnel.
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The increase in the number of people living in the city led to serious public health problems. From 1872-75 there were epidemics of diptheria and whooping cough every year, and in the typhoid epidemic of 1875-76 152 people died in Christchurch. These diseases are all diseases of poverty - poor food and unhealthy living conditions.