Lyttelton, New Zealand

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lyttelton (43°36′00″S 172°43′00″E / 43.6000°S 172.7167°E / -43.6000; 172
7167) is a port town on the north shore of Lyttelton Harbour next to Banks
Peninsula, 12 km by road from Christchurch on the eastern coast of the South
Island of New Zealand. According to the 2001 census, the usually resident
population of Lyttelton (including neighbouring bays such as Rapaki and
Corsair Bay) was 3,042.

The town is linked to Christchurch by railway and road tunnels through the
Port Hills. At 1.9 km long, the Lyttelton Road Tunnel (opened in 1964) is
the country's longest road tunnel; and the railway tunnel of the Main South
Line, officially opened on 1867-12-09, is the country's oldest.

The harbour is an inlet on the northwestern side of Banks Peninsula,
extending 18 km inland from the southern end of Pegasus Bay. It is
surrounded by steep hills formed from the sides of an extinct volcanic
crater, which rise to a height of 500 m. Several smaller settlements are
dotted along the shore of the harbour, notably Governors Bay and Diamond
Harbour. A small island, Quail Island, sits in the upper harbour southwest
of Lyttelton.

A home for Māori for about 700 years, Lyttelton, or Te whaka raupo was
discovered by European settlers on 16 February 1770 during the Endeavour's
first voyage to New Zealand. The earliest evidence of a human presence in
the area are moa bones dating from roughly 1250.

In August 1849 it was officially proclaimed a port.

Lyttelton was formerly called Port Cooper and Port Victoria. It was the
original settlement in the district (1850). The name Lyttelton was given to
it in honour of George William Lyttelton of the Canterbury Association,
which had led the colonisation of the area.

The Lyttelton Times was one of the principal newspapers of the Canterbury
region for 80 years, published from 1851 until 1929, at which time it became
the Christchurch Times, until publication ceased in 1935.

Aiming to establish a Church of England colony in New Zealand, the
Canterbury Association was founded in 1850. As Lyttelton was a harbour, and
had a large amount of flat land suitable for farming and development nearby,
it was ideal for a colony.

In 1862 the first telegraph transmission in New Zealand was made from
Lyttelton Post Office.

In 1870 fire destroyed all the wooden buildings in Norwich Quay, on the main
street of Lyttelton.

On January 1 1908, the Nimrod Expedition, headed by Ernest Shackleton to
explore Antarctica left from the harbour here.

The Lyttelton Harbour Board was created in 1877 to be in charge of the
harbour's management. It was dissolved in 1989 after the passing of the 1988
Port Companies Act, which forced it to split into two separate organizations
one commercial (the Lyttelton Port Company, currently owned by Christchurch
City Holdings, the commercial arm of the city council) and one
non-commercial. In 1996 the Lyttelton Port Company registered on the New
Zealand Stock Exchange.

One of the features of Lyttelton is the Timeball station. The Lyttelton
Timeball Station was erected in 1876 and is one of only five remaining
timeball stations in working order in the world. The castlelike building is
located high on a ridge above the port with extensive views over the harbour
It is now operated as a museum by the Historic Places Trust and is open for
visitors from 10:00am-5:30pm daily.

On 19 November 2005, it was announced that 60% of the Banks Peninsula
District ratepayers voted to amalgamate with the neighbouring Christchurch
City Council, which took place on 6 March 2006.

Pilgrim's Rock shows the place that European settlers first set foot in the
harbour. The location of the rock is well inland from the sea, because much
of Lyttelton's land has been reclaimed from the ocean since the Pilgrims
arrived.

The Holy Trinity Church, the oldest stone church in Canterbury, was built
out of stone transported from Quail Island on land intended for the
Cathedral of the Diocese.

Lyttelton was the location for most of the exterior scenes in Peter Jackson
s 1996 horror movie The Frighteners.