Lyttelton, New Zealand

Lyttelton ( Māori Te whaka raupo ) is a small port town in the north of the bay of the same name in the South Island of New Zealand. The village is situated on the Banks Peninsula about 12 kilometers south of the city Christchurch, the main agglomeration of the island. In Lyttelton is the port of the International metropolitan area, also it acts as a gateway to Banks Peninsula and is consequently both for trade and for tourism is of considerable importance. According to the 2006 census the town has 3,075 inhabitants.

Geography

About 500,000 years ago was located in what is now Lyttelton an active volcano. However, since that time he has gone; Finally, about 15,000 years ago, sea water could penetrate into the deeper crater due to the rising sea. In this way, today's Lyttelton Harbour, which extends from the Pegasus Bay in the north 18 km south-west direction was formed. The place itself is in the east by the water and in the west of the Port Hills, an up to 500 -meter-high ridge that separates the city of Christchurch, limited. In the southwest of the bay there is an uninhabited island, Quail Iceland. Besides the city itself and the municipal area of Lyttelton still consists of smaller settlements, of which Governors Bay and Diamond Harbour are the best known.

History

Already 1000 years ago the area to have been inhabited by today's Lyttelton Maori. They called the place Te whaka raupo, which means " port of rushes / reeds ". The area has been sighted for the first time on 16 February 1770 by the crew members of the Endeavour, which sailed under the command of James Cook. Already in 1849 the newly founded Lyttelton was declared a port. In the following years the town flourished as the Canterbury Association was founded in 1848, which wanted to build with support from the Church of England on the south island a colony, was explaining the flourishing port city to its landing point. This decision was taken by the favorable location of the place, because he was protected, but behind some hills was still plenty of space for agriculture.

On September 12, 1867, the first railway tunnel in New Zealand was opened, which connected the town with the then already distinguished Christchurch.

During the founding period in which the town was the only settlement in the region, it was usually referred to as Port Cooper and Port Victoria, until the village was named in honor of George Lyttelton, 4th Baron Lyttelton, an important personality of the Canterbury Association, renamed. In the following years, with the Lyttelton Times, a 80-year newspaper founded tradition that has long occupied a prominent position on the South Island, but under the name of Christ Church Times in 1935 ceased production.

Lyttelton was the starting point of the Discovery Expedition (1901-1904) led by Robert Falcon Scott and the Nimrod Expedition (1907-1909) under the leadership of Ernest Shackleton, two UK research and expeditions to Antarctica.

On 22 February 2011 the epicenter of the Christchurch earthquake was near Lyttelton. In the city there was severe damage, so it came to rockfall and landslides on coastal cliffs, destroyed by the numerous houses or damaged and roads were blocked.

Timeball Station

1876 ​​Timeball Station was built above the harbor. The apparatus at the castle-like building was supplied by the German company Siemens. Formerly indispensable for setting the time for the sailors, they fulfilled their original purpose until 1934, until 1941 it was still used for flag signals. In the 1970s, an extensive restoration was carried out, the station opened in 1978 as a consequence for visitors and in 1983 by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust category 1 ( sites of special or outstanding historical or cultural significance ) of Historic Places was classified. In 2010, the station was a still existing from about 60 worldwide, only one in five is in working condition and the only remaining in New Zealand.

After the Darfield earthquake had caused minor damage 4 September 2010, the station was badly damaged during the Christchurch Earthquake on 22 February 2011 that the ruins must be removed for safety reasons. In addition to repairing the time ball mechanism will attempt to secure at least as much structure of the building that later reconstruction of the tower is possible.

Special

In Lyttelton is not only the oldest railway tunnel in the country, but even the longest road tunnel in New Zealand, which replaced the extremely steep passage over the Port Hills to Christchurch as the most important road connection since 1964.

Well-known sights of the city are the port facilities and the Holy Trinity Church, the oldest church building in the region, for its construction stone blocks were installed from the nearby island Quail Iceland.

Most outdoor scenes for the horror movie The Frighteners Peter Jackson from 1996 were shot in Lyttelton.