 | LOCAL HISTORY |
YEAR: 1898
January 14 - "Great Peninsula Fire" destroys much of the bush on Banks Peninsula.
The first X-ray is done at Christchuch Hospital.
Australasia's first swimming championships are held in Ch-Ch.
Wellington businessman and politician William McLean imported the first motor car into New Zealand.
Credit: Ch-Ch City Libraries
YEAR: 1897
June 21 - Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee marked by the official opening of Victoria Park on the Port Hills and the transformation of Market (Victoria) Square.
New Brighton becomes a borough.
Bob Fitzsimmons becomes world heavy-weight boxing champion.
Credit: Ch-Ch City Libraries
YEAR: 1896
March 26 - Brunner Mining Disaster. 65 miners were killed when an incorrectly set charge ignited coal dust causing a series of explosions. Those killed numbered almost half the underground work force.
April 13 - The National Council of Women of New Zealand was established in Christchurch by women who had been active in the suffrage campaign. Their aim was to secure reforms to improve the status and conditions of women.
November 7 - First commercial screening of "Edison's Cinematograph".
Credit: Ch-Ch City Libraries
YEAR: 1895
April 23 - Regular Lyttelton - Wellington Cook ferry service inaugurated by "Penguin".
August 12 - In 1895 Minnie Dean became the first (and only) woman to be hanged by law in New Zealand. Known as the 'Winton baby farmer', she had been convicted of the murder of baby Dorothy Edith Carter in a sensational trial in Invercargill.
Credit: Ch-Ch City Libraries
YEAR: 1894
Ernest Rutherford transmits NZ's first radio waves in his basement laboratory at Canterbury university (now the Arts Centre - Rutherford's Den).
The Government bails out the Bank of New Zealand which faces bankruptcy.
Credit: Ch-Ch City Libraries
YEAR: 1893
April 19 - Liberals 'burst up' Cheviot Estate. In the 1890s the Liberal government was determined to break up big estates for closer settlement by small farmers. The first major purchase under this policy was the Cheviot Estate in North Canterbury.
November 28 - Women vote for the first time in parliamentary elections. A world first.
Linwood and Woolston become boroughs.
Apirana Turupa Ngata becomes the first Maori university graduate, with a BA, followed by a law degree four years later.
The first milking machines and (steam driven) shearing machines are introduced.
Credit: Ch-Ch City Libraries
YEAR: 1892
April 16 - As the popularity of rugby spread, it was considered necessary to standardise the running of the game in this country. Despite some opposition, the NZ Rugby Football Union was created at a meeting held in Wellington
YEAR: 1891
Nursing school established at Christchurch Hospital.
City's first electric lighting in the store of J. Ballantyne and Co.
The Land and Income Tax Assessment Act sets up the forerunner of the Inland Revenue Department and introduces the first income tax
Bob Fitzsimmons from Timaru wins the world middleweight boxing title in San Francisco. He went on to become boxing's first triple world champion.
The Sumner Borough is formed.
Credit: Ch-Ch City Libraries
YEAR: 1890
August 28 - "Great maritime strike" (the first of NZ's 3 major waterfront strikes) spreads to Lyttelton.
October 28 - Women Jurors Act allows women to sit on juries. The Act provided for women between the ages of 25 and 60 to have their names placed on the jury list on the same basis as men – if they so desired. The first female juror, Miss E.R. Kingsman, served at the Auckland Supreme Court in 1943.
Dutch artist Petrus Van der Velden settles in Christchurch.
Featherweight boxer 'Torpedo' Billy Murphy becomes the first Kiwi to win a wotld title.
Credit: Ch-Ch City Libraries
YEAR: 1889
June 10 - The first kindergarten in NZ was opened at the Walker Street Mission Hall in Dunedin.
December 1 - First NZ built locomotive completed at Addington railway workshops. Now the site of the Tower Junction retail centre.
Abolition of non-residential or property qualification to vote - "One man, one vote" becomes law.
Unions form the Trades and Labour Council.
Credit: Ch-Ch City Libraries
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