New Zealand Company - The Settlement of Wellington

The Settlement of Wellington

Swayed by the opinion of its Surveyor-General, Captain William Mein Smith of the Royal Artillery, the Company established the initial settlement, called "Britannia", of 1100 1-acre (4,047 m2) town sections on the flat land at Pito-one, at the mouth of the Hutt River in January 1840. As well as a town section, each settler had purchased 100 "country acres" (about 40ha) to be located nearby, on which they could grow their food and support themselves initially. However the valley at Pito-one was a mix of dense forest, scrub, flax and swamp, prone to flooding and with a beach so flat ships were forced to anchor 1600 metres from the shore. In March, eight weeks after the first passenger ship arrived, settlers voted to abandon surveying at Pito-one and move the town to Thorndon, to the south-west, one of the few comparatively flat areas on the harbour.

The area of Lambton Bay (later Lambton Quay) took its name in honour of Lord Durham, who had been closely associated with the formation of the Company.

Surveyors quickly encountered problems, however, when they discovered the land selected for the new settlement still inhabited by Māori, who expressed astonishment and bewilderment to find Pākehā tramping through their homes, gardens and cemeteries and driving wooden survey pegs into the ground. Surveyors became involved in skirmishes with the Māori, most of whom refused to budge, and were provided with weapons to continue their work.

Wakefield had purchased the land during a frantic week-long campaign the previous September, with payment made in the form of iron pots, soap, guns, ammunition, axes, fish hooks, clothing – including red nightcaps – slates, pencils, umbrellas, sealing wax and jaw harps. Signatures had been gained from local chiefs after an explanation, given by Wakefield and interpreted by Barrett, that the land would no longer be theirs once payment was made. However evidence later provided to the Spain Land Commission – set up by Governor FitzRoy to investigate New Zealand Company land claims – revealed three major flaws: that chiefs representing pā of Te Aro, Pipitea and Kumutoto, where the settlement of Thorndon was to be sited, were neither consulted nor paid; that Te Wharepouri, an aggressive and boastful young chief eager to prove his importance, had sold land he did not control; and that Barrett's explanation and interpretation of the terms of the sale was woefully inadequate. Barrett told the Spain Commission hearing in February 1843: "I said that when they signed their names the gentlemen in England who had sent out the trade might know who were the chiefs." Historian Angela Caughey also claimed it was extremely unlikely that Wakefield and Barrett could have visited all the villages at Whanganui-a-Tara in one day to explain the company's intentions and seek approval.

The Māori occupants of the disputed land received promises of reserves equal to one-tenth of the area, with their allotments chosen by lottery and sprinkled among the European settlers. Edward Jerningham Wakefield, who accompanied his uncle Col. William Wakefield to New Zealand on the Tory in 1839, explained that interspersing Maori with white settlers would help them change their "rude and uncivilised habits". He wrote: "The constant example before their eyes, and constant emulation to attain the same results, would naturally lead the inferior race, by an easy ascent, to a capacity for acquiring the knowledge, habits, desires and comforts of their civilised neighbours." Wakefield said the reserves – "a very important part of our projected plan" – would remain inalienable to ensure that the Māori would not quickly sell the land to speculators. Spain eventually negotiated a settlement with Te Aro, Kumutoto and Pipitea chiefs whereby they would sell their land, but retain possession of their pā, cultivations and burial-places.

In August 1840 the New Zealand Company suffered a further setback when the Legislative Council in New South Wales decreed that payment for land in New Zealand must go directly to the original inhabitants, and that no individual sale could exceed "four square miles". The NSW Government planned to examine all the purchases of the New Zealand Company – which had already claimed to have bought two million acres (8,000 km²) and sold part of it directly to settlers – as well as more than 1200 individual land claims throughout the country. Panic swept the town and hundreds of settlers chose to abandon their land and sailed to Valparaíso, Chile.

In November 1840 the New Zealand Company directors advised Wakefield that they wished to name the town at Lambton Harbour after the Duke of Wellington in recognition of his strong support for the company's principles of colonisation and his "strenuous and successful defence against its enemies of the measure for colonising South Australia". Edward Jerningham Wakefield reported that the settlers "took up the views of the directors with great cordiality and the new name was at once adopted".