Canterbury's History

  • Jan 10, 1000

    The first people to live in the place now known as Christchurch were Moa Hunters before they became extinct.

  • Period: Jan 10, 1000 to

    Canterbury History

  • Captain James Cook in his ship first sighted the Canterbury Peninsula.

  • sailors from the Governor Bligh landed that Europeans first set foot on Banks Peninsula.

  • Major Thomas Bunbury arrived on the HMS Herald to collect the signatures of the Ngāi Tahu chiefs for the Treaty of Waitangi.

  • First house on the Canterbury Plains, Riccarton built by the Deans brothers.