NZ history - early Wellington settlers
With this in mind, an exploration team was sent out in 1826, and after sailing around the South Island coast for a bit they decided the Te Whanganui-a-Tara harbour area would be ideal and promptly named it Lambton Harbour after the head of the New Zealand Company, John George Lambton (later, Lord Durham).
The fact that the area was already occupied by natives, who'd already built a large pa - the Te Āti Awa tribe - did not disrupt their settlement plans.
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Charles Heaphy's Wellington [1840], lithograph by Thomas Allom
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The land that was to be used for Britannia had been purchased from the local Maori, but the land which was to be settled at Lambton Harbour had not, although this did not stop them from doing so.
It had also been hoped that Wellington would be made the country's capital but Governor Hobson decided Auckland would be a better place for it.
(It wouldn't be until 1865 that Wellington indeed would permanently become NZ's capital.)
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(note: the pigs seen in the foreground would have been released by the settlers or other early European visitors)
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A fuller list can be found in the notes below.
There were also other ships which arrived during 1840 and brought more settlers to the area, such as the Cuba (arrived 4th Jan), the Oriental (arrived 31st Jan), the Duke of Roxburgh (arrived 7th Feb), the Bengal Merchant (arrived 20th Feb), the Adelaide (arrived 7th Mar), and the Glenbervie (arrived 7th Mar).
The Aurora passengers were classed as the first lot of true immigrants to have arrived in Wellington.
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book: White Wings, vol. II - Founding of the Provinces and Old Time Shipping, by Henry Brett
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As you might note from the passenger list in the notes below, they had a variety of occupations. Unfortunately for them, not all their skills would prove to be immediately useful in such an untamed and barren land. The lack of any sort of facilities was quite a shock for those stepping off the ships.
What was desperately needed (and became apparent rather quickly) were skills that could grow food and create shelter.
From reports it seems the local Maori were kind enough to step in and help settlers through this early period. Not so many immigrants would have survived, otherwise.
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"This detail of the city centre of the Wellington includes names that recall London landmarks, such as Covent Garden, Soames Square and Billingsgate Fish Market. None of these names were retained when the settlement was laid out."
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"This map showing the proposed layout of the town of Wellington, with its 1,100 one-acre (0.4-hectare) town sections, was drawn in England to convince investors to support the venture. In reality, the company’s surveyor, William Mein Smith, struggled to follow this elaborate plan when he first laid the settlement out at Petone."
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(1842)
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Those early pioneers certainly made quite an effort to carve out a life in such a new and sometimes harsh country.
Perhaps, if you read the names below, you'll find you're related to one?
You can certainly be proud of what they achieved.
Notes:
The only picture I could find of the Aurora, although it was taken much later than 1840.
"The ship Aurora at an unidentified location, Ref: 1/2-025379-F, Alexander Turnbull Library, NZ"
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We can only begin to imagine what such a journey was like for all those on board.
Other passengers on the Aurora I've found are:
Baker, Richard (Maj.)
Barrow, James sr. (b. 1799; labourer)
Barrow, James jr. (b. 1816; labourer)
Barrow, Thomas (b. 1820; labourer)
Barry, John (b. 1810; gardener)
Barry, Richard (b. 1815; agriculturalist)
Barry, William (b. 1808; agricultural labourer)
Boon, Robert (b. 1813; agriculturalist)
Box, John
Brown, Andrew sr. (b. 1798; smith & carpenter)
Brown, Andrew jr.
Brown, David (b. 1823; smith & carpenter)
Brown, Gibson
Brown, John (b. 1820; smith & carpenter)
Carter, Joseph (b. 1811; labourer)
Carter, Sarah Ann (nee Briant; b. 1812)
Child, John Wright (b. 1814)
Coppin, Hannah (child)
Coppin, Harriet (nee Horton)
Coppin, Job (b. 1818; labourer)
Coppin, John (child)
Coppin, John Neale
Coppin, Martha (child)
Davies, Edward (b. 1811; currier)
Davies, Martha
Davis, Richard
Davis, Rowland Robert (b. 1809; smith)
Davis, Mary Ann
Davis, (8 children)
Deans, William (b. 1817; farmer)
Deighton, Richard John (b. 1819)
Deighton, Samuel (b. 1820)
Drake, Thomas John (b. 1814)
Draper, Martha (b. 1809; servant)
Draper, Sarah (b. 1811; servant)
Edwards, James (b. 1809; labourer)
Farrance, James (b. 1819; labourer)
Friend, Richard (b. 1806; bricklayer & labourer)
Friend, William (b. 1824; labourer)
Gebbie, John (b. 1813; farm labourer)
Gebbie, Mary (nee Campbell; b. 1816)
Glover, James (b. 1805; agricultural labourer)
Gratage, Daniel (b. 1817; agricultural labourer)
Groombridge, Mary (b. 1815; dressmaker)
Hayward, William (b. 1809; miller)
Heale, Theophilus (Capt.)
Hicks, Charles (b. 1814; labourer)
Holes, Peter (b. 1811; brickmaker)
Houghton, Allan
Houghton, Charlotte (b. 1820; servant)
Houghton, Francis
Houghton, George
Houghton, James H.
Houghton, Jessie
Houghton, John (b. 1819; mariner)
Houghton, Robert (b. 1797; mariner)
Houghton, Sarah
Hunt, George
Hunt, Uriah (b. 1816; agriculturalist)
Langford, ?
Langford, John Alfred (b. 1816; chairmaker)
Langford, Harriet (nee Bates; b. 1818)
Lodge, John (b. 1808; stonemason)
Maxwell, Christopher (b. 1821)
Maxwell, Elizabeth Mary (nee Stevenson; b. 1821)
Maxwell, James (b. 1819; agriculturalist & sheep farmer)
Maxwell, William (b. 1819)
McDermott, Deborah (b. 1819; milliner)
McGurk, Charles (b. 1819)
Miles, John Clement (b. 1818; baker & gardener)
Morrison, Daniel
Morrison, William (b. 1816; farm labourer & carpenter)
Nicholls, William (b. 1818; cooper)
Oxenham, Jemima (b. 1824; seamstress)
Oxenham, John (b. 1810; shipwright)
Oxenham, Nicholas
Oxenham, Sarah (b. 1820; seamstress)
Palmer, George Thomas jr. (b. 1809)
Palmer, Selina Augustas (b. 1816)
Parker, Ann (b. 1814)
Parker, James (b. 1799)
Parker, Samuel
Parker, William (b. 1816; blacksmith)
Parkes, Catherine (b. 1824; seamstress)
Parkes, Charles (b. 1819; agricultural labourer)
Parkes, Elizabeth (b. 1794)
Parkes, Frederick
Parkes, Henry (b. 1821; grocer)
Parkes, Jane (b. 1820)
Parkes, Mary Ann (b. 1816)
Petherick, Carolina Emma (b. 1834)
Petherick, Edwin Henry (b. 1830)
Petherick, Frederick George (b. 1833)
Petherick, George (b. 1820; carpenter)
Petherick, James sr. (b. 1806; builder)
Petherick, James jr. (b. 1836)
Petherick, John Augustus (b. 1829)
Platt, J. T. (Mrs)
Prebble [or Pribble], Ann (nee Stone; b. 1803; servant)
Prebble [or Pribble], James (b. 1799; carpenter)
Prebble [or Pribble], Richard (b. 1823; carpenter)
Pudney, Joseph (b. 1816; brickmaker)
Read, Henry (b. 1812; brazier & smith)
Richardson, James (b. 1807; builder)
Roper, T.
Sadler, Joseph (b. 1819; servant)
Sawyer, John (b. 1815; currier)
Stafford, Edward (b. 1812; tailor & gardener)
Stokes, John M. (surgeon)
Stokes, Margaret (b. 1809)
Stratford, George A.
Wallace, John Howard (b. 1816; merchant)
Wallace, William Ellerslie (b. 1814; agricultural labourer)
Welch, Thomas (b. 1814; labourer)
White, George
Whitewood, William Matson (b. 181; servant)
Wilkinson, Johnson B. (b. 1813; labourer)
Bibliography:
http://www.huttcity.govt.nz/Leisure--Culture/Museums-and-galleries/Our-museums/petone-settlers-data/
https://library.huttcity.mebooks.co.nz/text/Petone100/t1-body-d4.html
http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Bre02Whit-t1-body-d1-d1-d7.html
http://shadowsoftime.co.nz/settlersb.html
https://teara.govt.nz/en/map/1457/plan-of-wellington-1840
https://teara.govt.nz/en/wellington-region
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_Company
http://www.yesteryears.co.nz/shipping/
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Great post! I love history. Many familiar themes to all settlers stories - promises of the "land of milk and honey", natives that helped unprepared Europeans survive, perseverance to make something. And some characteristically British things like the whole settlement laid out and maps made before there was anything on the ground ;)
lol, yes; it was a shame they were so well prepared in certain areas and yet let themselves down so badly in others
That's a very square city. Did they actually survey the areas before doing up those plans? XD
lol, my guess is 'no'. :D
What is that saying? "The best laid plans of mice & men ... "
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Thank you so much. I really enjoyed researching this and could have delved into a lot more. :D
History has always interested me.
@ravenruis Thank you for not using bidbots on this post and also using the #nobidbot tag!