Nelson, New Zealand
| Nelson |
|
| Population: | 57,700
(urban)
44,500
(unitary) |
| Mayor: | Paul Matheson |
| Urban Area |
|---|
| Extent: | from Glenduan to
the Wairoa River |
| Unitary authority |
|---|
| Name: | Nelson City |
| Extent: | from Rai Saddle to
Stoke |
| Regional Council: | Nelson Province |
|
Nelson stands on the southern corner of
Tasman Bay, on the northern end of the
South Island of
New Zealand and is the administrative centre for Nelson Province. Nelson received its name in honour of the
1st Viscount Nelson and Admiral of the fleet that defeated both the French and Spanish fleets at the
Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Many of the roads and public areas around the city are named after people and ships associated with that battle. Trafalgar Street is the main city street.
Nelson's Māori name, Whakatū, means "a place to stand", literally meaning "home".
Nelson Province is one of the
regions of New Zealand and is administered as a
unitary authority. It is positioned between Marlborough to the east and Tasman District to the west
Many people believe Nelson has the best climate in New Zealand, in that it regularly tops the national statistics for
sunshine hours, with an annual average total of over 2400 hours.
Nelson Province has good beaches and a sheltered harbour. The harbour entrance is protected by a natural breakwater known as The Boulder Bank, which also reduces the effects of the tide on Nelson city's beach, Tahunanui. This allows for some of the safest sea bathing in the country.
Nelson is surrounded by mountains on three sides with Tasman Bay on the other. It functions as the gateway to the
Abel Tasman National Park, the
Kahurangi National Park, and
Rotoiti and
Rotoroa in the
Nelson Lakes National Park. It is a centre for both
ecotourism and
adventure tourism, and has a high reputation among
caving enthusiasts due to several prominent cave systems around
Takaka Hill and
Mount Owen.
The geographical "Centre of New Zealand" allegedly lies in Nelson; on a hilltop suspiciously convenient to the centre of the city. This supposed "centre" in fact simply marks the point deemed the "centre" for the purposes of early geographical surveys. The
true geographical centre lies in a patch of unremarkable dense
scrub in a forest on the
Spooner Range near
Tapawera, 35 kilometres southwest of Nelson.
Nelson serves as a centre for arts and crafts, and each year hosts popular events such as the
Nelson Arts Festival, and, in previous years, the annual
Wearable Art Awards, although these have now moved to
Wellington.
Nelson Province is the birthplace of
Ernest Rutherford.
The Nelson urban area, which includes the adjacent town of
Richmond, has a population of approximately 50,000 - and has recently increased in population more rapidly than any other region in New Zealand.
The early history of Nelson begins with the settlement about 1100 years ago by the original
Polynesian settlers of
New Zealand; known today as Moa-Hunters. The period of the Moa-Hunters is known as the Archaic Phase of Māori culture.
There is evidence the earliest settlements in New Zealand are around the Nelson-Marlborough regions.
The earliest recorded
iwi in the Nelson district are the Ngāti Kuia, Ngāti Tumatakokiri, Ngāti Apa and Rangitane tribes.
Raids from northern tribes in the 1820's, led by
Te Rauparaha and his
Ngāti Toa, soon decimated the local population and quickly displaced them.
The
New Zealand Company in
London planned the settlement of Nelson. They intended to buy cheaply from the
Māori some 200 000 acres (800 km²) which they planned to divide into one thousand lots and sell (at a considerable profit) to intending settlers. The Company earmarked future profits to finance the free passage of artisans and labourers and their families, and for the construction of public works. However by September
1841 only about one third of the lots had sold. Despite this the Colony pushed ahead.
Three ships sailed from London under the command of 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 60 000 acres (243 km²), less than one third of the area required by the Company plans.
The Company secured from the Māori for £800 a vague and undetermined area, but including 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 immigrant ships arrived three months later they found the town already laid out with streets, some wooden houses, tents and rough sheds. Within eighteen months the Company had sent out eighteen ships with 1052 men, 872 women and 1384 children. However, fewer than ninety of the settlers had the capital to start as landowners.
Notably, 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.
After a brief initial period of prosperity the inherent problems, the lack of land and the lack of capital caught up with the settlement and it entered a prolonged period of relative depression. Organised immigration ceased until the 1850s and the laborers had to accept a cut in their wages by a third. By the end of 1843 artisans and laborers began leaving Nelson and by 1846 some twenty five percent 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. The New Zealand Company tried to claim that they had purchased the land. The Māori owners stated quite 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, wherein twenty-two settlers died. The subsequent Government enquiry exonerated the Māori and found that the Nelson settlers had no legitimate claim to any land outside Tasman Bay.
*
Miyazu, Japan
*
Huangshi City, People's Republic of China;
*
Eureka, CA, USA
*
Wikitravel Nelson page*
The Harlequin Guide to Nelson*
Latitude Nelson*
Nelson City Council*
Nelson Marlborough Institue of Technology*
Nelson Ports
