On 1 April 1869 a court notice appeared in the Christchurch Star, describing an unusual disturbance of the peace. Ten boys aged between seven and thirteen years old were charged with stealing a quantity of explosives fuse from a magazine on Evans Pass, presumably held there for the purpose of road construction. The boys were…
When Death Jumped Ship exhibition
Hard on the heels on World War One, the 1918 influenza pandemic was the worst health disaster of the 20th century. Worldwide, over 50 million people died and here in Aotearoa 9,000 New Zealanders lost their lives to the flu in only two months. What was it like? How did people deal with this disaster…
Te Reo Māori, niupepa, and Papers Past
The historians and whakapapa researchers among you may already be familiar with Papers Past, an impressive and still-growing online resource from the National library. This site makes digitised versions of Aotearoa newspapers, magazines and journals, letters and diaries, and parliamentary papers available online, for free. The fascinating newspaper section (believe me, it’s easy to fall…
Lighting up the winter nights – Lyttelton Harbour Festival of Lights, Friday 29 June 2018
This week is an exciting one for Lyttelton Library and our customers, with our fabulous Stories after Dark with Lindsey on Thursday night, and the awesome Lyttelton Harbour Festival of Lights on the evening of Friday 29 June. Lyttelton Library’s Stories after Dark starts at 6.30pm on Thursday 28 June – head down to the…
Matariki – a time for garden plans
With Matariki approaching, it’s nearly time to start thinking about our food plantings for the coming year. Three stars of the Matariki cluster, Tupu-ā-nuku, Tupu-ā-rangi, and Ururangi, are important to planning for the coming year’s food crops – and traditionally the way they appear to viewers (hazy or clear, for instance) helped Māori determine when the best…
Auē! Me tangi noa ahau ki muri nei
My grandfather's brother never came back from World War One. He's buried in Armentières, France. My grandmother's brother lost his leg, so the family farm in Southland had to be sold - he couldn't take up his inheritance. My great aunt's fiancé returned a shell-shocked alcoholic - PTSD, they'd call it these days. They parted…
Is this the real life?
Confession time. My reading tastes tend towards non-fiction. Not exclusively, but you’re far more likely to see me curled up with a good gardening book or a lush costume history than a weighty fantasy tome. This can make things slightly awkward when it comes to reader advisory (“You work in library - you must have…
What’s in a name? A whole story, actually! – Māori library names
What’s in a name? A whole story, actually! Every library in the Christchurch City Libraries network is named in both English and Māori, and with two new libraries (or rather, libraries returning in sparkly new form) popping up recently, we’d like to share a bit about their Māori names. Our libraries' Māori names tell some great…
From tiny seeds… The origins of The Great Library Seed Swap
So what's the deal with all this seed swapping that's propagating across our libraries? Well, it's been growing quietly for a while, and I was there when it all began... It all started just after the February 2011 earthquake, as so many other interesting projects did. When my usual library (the Central Library) was closed…
Old friends, old friends, sat on a bench like bookends…
While 2016 was taking its final victims, one smaller obituary caught my eye amidst the many articles on the passing of Carrie Fisher and George Michael. The obituary was for Richard Adams, author of Watership Down. At 96, we certainly could not say that Adams' rich life was cut short, but to lose him at the…
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