From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lyttelton (43.6000° S 172.7167° E) 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 3042.

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, officially opened on 1867-12-09^[1], is the country's oldest.

The harbour is an inlet on the north-western 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 south-west of Lyttelton.

A home for Māori for about 700 years, Lyttelton, or Te whaka raupo was discovered by European settlers on 1770-02-16 during the Endeavour's first voyage to New Zealand. The earliest evidence of a human presence in the area are moa bones dating from approx 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.

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 one of the world's few remaining working Timeball stations. The Timeball is now used as a museum and is currently under renovation.

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 had 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.

1. ^ The Lyttelton Tunnel. Christchurch City Council. Retrieved on 2006-08-08.

Harbour entrance	View from Cashin Quay across Lyttelton Harbour to the small town of Diamond Harbour on the south side.	Port of Lyttelton plaque	Loading a ship, 1968
Looking down Oxford Street	Lyttelton port in 2004

• Lyttelton Harbour visitor information
• Lyttelton Community Portal
• Lyttelton Port Company
• First issue of Lyttelton Times, 1851