Christ Church Cathedral on Church Hill, central Nelson
Māori settlement Settlement of Nelson began about 700 years ago by
Māori. There is evidence that the earliest settlements in New Zealand were around the Nelson–Marlborough regions. Some of the earliest recorded
iwi in the Nelson district are Ngāti Hāwea, Ngāti Wairangi,
Waitaha and
Kāti Māmoe. Waitaha people developed the land around the Waimea Gardens, are believed to have been the first people to quarry
argillite in around Nelson. They also developed much of the Waimea Gardens complex – more than on the Waimea Plains near Nelson. In the early 1600s,
Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri displaced other
te Tau Ihu Māori, becoming the dominant tribe in the area until the early 1800s. Three ships, the
Arrow,
Whitby, and
Will Watch, sailed from London, the expedition commanded by Captain
Arthur Wakefield. Arriving in New Zealand, they discovered that the new Governor of the colony,
William Hobson, would not give them a free hand to secure vast areas of land from the Māori or indeed to decide where to site the colony. However, after some delay, Hobson allowed the company to investigate the Tasman Bay area at the north end of the South Island. The Company selected the site now occupied by Nelson City because it had the best harbour in the area. But it had a major drawback: it lacked suitable
arable land; Nelson City stands right on the edge of a mountain range while the nearby Waimea Plains amount to only about , less than one third of the area required by the Company plans. The Company secured land, which was not clearly defined, from the Māori for £800: it included Nelson, Waimea,
Motueka,
Riwaka and Whakapuaka. This allowed the settlement to begin, but the lack of definition would prove the source of much future conflict. The three colony ships sailed into Nelson Haven during the first week of November 1841. When the first four immigrant ships –
Fifeshire,
Mary-Ann,
Lord Auckland and
Lloyds – arrived three months later, they found the town already laid out with streets, some wooden houses, tents and rough sheds. The town was laid out on a
grid plan. Within 18 months, the company had sent out 18 ships with 1,052 men, 872 women and 1,384 children. However, fewer than ninety of the settlers had the capital to start as landowners.
Cultural and religious immigrants The early settlement of Nelson province included a proportion of
German immigrants, who arrived on the ship
Sankt Pauli and formed the nucleus of the villages of Sarau (
Upper Moutere) and Neudorf. These were mostly
Lutheran Protestants with a small number of
Bavarian Catholics. In 1892, the
New Zealand Church Missionary Society (NZCMS) was formed in a Nelson church hall. Church,
Upper Moutere Problems with land After a brief initial period of prosperity, the lack of land and of capital caught up with the settlement and it entered a prolonged period of relative depression. The labourers had to accept a cut in their wages. Organised immigration ceased (a state of affairs that continued until the 1850s). By the end of 1843, the artisans and labourers began leaving Nelson; by 1846, some 25% of the immigrants had moved away. The pressure to find more arable land became intense. To the south-east of Nelson lay the wide and fertile plains of the
Wairau Valley, to which the New Zealand Company tried to claim that they had purchased the land. The Māori owners stated adamantly that the Wairau Valley had not formed part of the original land sale, and made it clear they would resist any attempts by the settlers to occupy the area. The Nelson settlers led by Arthur Wakefield and Henry Thompson attempted to do just that. This resulted in the
Wairau Affray, where 22 settlers and 4 Māori died. The subsequent Government inquiry exonerated the Māori and found that the Nelson settlers had no legitimate claim to any land outside Tasman Bay. Public fears of a Māori attack on Nelson led to the formation of the
Nelson Battalion of Militia in 1845.
City status Nelson township was managed by the
Nelson Provincial Council through a Board of Works constituted by the Provincial Government under the Nelson Improvement Act 1856 until 1874. It was proclaimed a Bishop's
See and city under letters patent by
Queen Victoria on 27 September 1858, the second New Zealand city proclaimed in this manner after
Christchurch. Nelson only had some 5,000 residents at this time.
Edmund Hobhouse was the first Bishop. The Municipal Corporations Act 1876 stated that Nelson was constituted a city on 30 March 1874.
Nelson Province as constituted in 1853 From 1853 until 1876, when provincial governments were abolished, Nelson was the capital of
Nelson Province. The province itself was much larger than present-day Nelson City and included all of the present-day
Buller,
Kaikōura,
Marlborough, Nelson, and Tasman, as well as the
Grey District north of the
Grey River and the
Hurunui District north of the
Hurunui River. The
Marlborough Province split from Nelson Province in October 1859.
Provincial anniversary Nelson Anniversary Day is a public holiday observed in the northern half of the South Island of New Zealand, being the area's provincial anniversary day. It is observed throughout the historic Nelson Province, even though the provinces of New Zealand were abolished in 1876. The modern area of observation includes all of Nelson City and includes all of the present-day Buller, Kaikōura, Marlborough, Tasman districts as well as the Grey District north of the Grey River / Māwheranui and the Hurunui District north of the Hurunui River. The holiday usually falls on the Monday closest to 1 February, the anniversary of the arrival of the first New Zealand Company boat, the
Fifeshire, on 1 February 1842. Anniversary celebrations in the early years featured a sailing regatta, horse racing, running races, shooting and ploughing matches. In 1892, the Nelson Jubilee Celebration featured an official week-long programme with church services, sports, concerts, a ball and a grand display of fireworks.
Time gun In 1858, the Nelson Provincial Council erected a
time gun at the spot on Brittania Heights where Captain Wakefield erected his flagpole in 1841. The gun was fired each Saturday at noon to give the correct time. The gun is now preserved as a historical relic and the
Songer Tree marks the site on Signal Hill of the original flagpole. == Geography ==