Wellington History

Pre 20th Century

Maori legend has it that the explorer Kupe was the first person to discover Wellington harbour.

The original Maori name was Te Whanga-Nui-a-Tara, Tara being the son of a Maori chief named Whatonga who had settled on the Hawkes Bay coast. Whatonga sent Tara and his half-brother to explore the southern part of the North Island. When they returned over a year later, their reports were so favourable that Whatonga's followers moved there, founding the Ngati Tara tribe.

The first European settlers arrived in the New Zealand Company's ship Aurora on 22 January 1840, not long after Colonel William Wakefield arrived to buy land from the Maoris. The idea was to build two cities: one would be a commercial centre by the harbour (Port Nicholson) and the other, further north, would be the agricultural hub.

However, the Maoris denied they had sold the land at Port Nicholson, or Poneke, as they called it. As it was founded on hasty and illegal buying by the NZ Company, land rights struggles followed, which were to plague the country for years, and still affect it today.

Wellington began as a settlement with very little flat land. Originally the waterfront was along Lambton Quay, but reclamation of parts of the harbour began in 1852 and it has continued ever since.

In the 1850s Wellington was a thriving settlement of around 5000 people. In 1855 an earthquake razed part of Hutt Rd and the area from Te Aro flat to the Basin Reserve, which initiated the first major reclamation.

In 1865 the seat of government was moved from Auckland to Wellington, due to its central location in the country.

Modern

Throughout the twentieth century, Wellington quietly got on with the job of consolidating itself as the nation's political and cultural core. As its gravity increased, formerly independent boroughs (including Melrose, Onslow and Miramar) were incorporated into the growing conurbation. While the devastating earthquakes of the 19th century were mercifully absent, the 20th century wasn't devoid of tragedy. One blustery day back in 1968 the wind blew so hard it pushed the almost-new Wellington-Christchurch ferry Wahine onto Barrett's Reef just outside the harbour entrance. The disabled ship later broke loose from the reef, drifted into the harbour and slowly sank, causing the loss of 51 lives. The Museum of Wellington City & Sea has detailed information on this tragedy.

Recent

In recent times Wellington has stamped its place on the world map as a dynamic creative centre and the home of NZ's growing film industry. A confident, relaxed little town, it may be the only national capital in the world where you'll see signs warning drivers to be aware of penguins on inner-city roads.