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Jan 1, 1000
First Moa hunters
Moa hunters arrive in NZ -
Captain James Cook sees Canterbury
The first time Canterbury is sighted from the sea -
Europeans set foot on Canterbury
Europeans from the ship Govener Bligh set foot on Canterbury -
Local Maori population fell
The local Maori population fell as a result of inter-tribal fighting and introduced European diseases -
Treaty signatures collected
Captain Thomas Bunbury came to Canterbury to collect signatures for the Treaty of Waitangi -
British flag raised in Akaroa
In August 1840 Captain Owen Stanley of the Britomart raised the British flag at Akaroa, just before the arrival of sixty-three French colonists on the Comte de Paris. -
Canterbury settlement planned
In November 1847 John Robert Godley and Edward Gibbon Wakefield met to plan the Canterbury settlement. -
First settler ships arrive in Lyttelton
The first of the four ships, the Charlotte Jane, arrived in Lyttelton -
First land auctions
The first ‘selection days’ to ballot sections of land in the new towns were held in February 1851. At first Lyttelton was most popular, until people climbed the port hills to Christchurch -
First superintendent
Under the new provincial system, Canterbury’s first superintendent was James Edward Fitzgerald. -
Lyttelton tunnel
William Sefton Moorhouse, the new superintendent, decided to propose the idea of a tunnel, he was granted permission to start the build -
First hospital
Christchurch's first hospital built
