Nelson
Whakatū
One of the earliest planned settlements, founded in 1842, and the base from which the expedition that ended at Wairau set out the following year.
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3 events in Nelson between 1842 and 1998
Nelson settlement established
The New Zealand Company’s second settlement was founded on a site with far less flat land than it had sold to its buyers.
NelsonThe Wairau affray
An armed Nelson party tried to arrest Te Rauparaha over disputed Wairau land. Twenty-two settlers and at least four Ngāti Toa died.
TuamarinaThe Ngāi Tahu settlement
A claim first lodged in 1849 was finally settled: $170 million, an apology, and the return of Aoraki/Mount Cook, over land covering most of the South Island.
Ōnuku Marae, AkaroaMeanwhile, nationally
5 events that reached Nelson along with most of the country. They still shade the map and sit on the timeline above, but they are not Nelson’s own history.
New Zealand Constitution Act
Representative government arrived, divided into six provinces — and the property franchise excluded almost all Māori, who held land communally.
New Zealand connected to the world by cable
A submarine cable from Sydney landed near Nelson, cutting news from London from three months to a few hours.
Cable Bay, NelsonThe provinces are abolished
Nine provincial governments were swept away and replaced by central government plus counties and boroughs — the shape of local government for the next century.
Ernest Rutherford wins the Nobel Prize
A farm boy from Brightwater took the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and went on to split the atom and discover the atomic nucleus.
Brightwater, NelsonThe Sealord fisheries settlement
The Crown funded a Māori half-share in Sealord and allocated quota, settling commercial fisheries claims nationally in one deal.