Nelson Region

HISTORY

Nelson was one of New Zealand's first cities, and was planned and settled by the New Zealand Company in London.   The New Zealand Company sent three exploration ships ready to sail to New Zealand for this second settlement. The three ships were the Whitby, the Will Watch and the Arrow and they were under the command of Captain Wakefield.  The natural harbour which is now Nelson, made it the preferred place for the new settlement. The Arrow entered Nelson on 1 November 1841.

In October 1841 it had arranged for the next four ships to set sail for Nelson. These four ships, were the Fifeshire, Lord Auckland, Mary Ann and the Lloyds . All of these ships ended up in Nelson, the first to arrive being the Fifeshire, on the 1st February 1842.  With the arrival of these first immigrants.  The immigrants immediately began to suffer from the effects of a plan that had been drawn up by people who had never seen the terrain.

Because the prime area for the town was about two miles from the port, tracks were made.

In the first two years of settlement, ships coming into Nelson brought over 2000 people, with still more on the way. As further settlement ships arrived with hopeful immigrants, the New Zealand Company did very well in quickly establishing a functional settlement with wharves, a courthouse, police officers, meat and cattle markets and cemeteries being established.



If you have more interest in our early settlers the Nelson Provincial Museum has great displays and information about early Nelson.

Today

Nelson - on the western tip of New Zealand’s South Island - is renowned for golden beaches, quality seafood and wine, and a significant artistic community.  

The Nelson area, with its sunny climate and fertile soils, is one of the top horticultural producers as well as forestry, seafood and agricultural sectors and is also a very popular destination for fans of the great outdoors.

Nelson (population around 45,500 June 2010) is a great place for a holiday, with its lakes, mountains and bush of the Nelson Lakes and Abel Tasman National Parks, the sheltered beaches of Tasman Bay, and the variety of cultural and historical attractions in the city.

Nelson has beaches and a sheltered harbour. The harbour entrance, is protected by the Boulder Bank. The boulder bank is a natural 13km bank of rocks. Which creates a perfect natural harbour this enticed the first settlers although the entrance was narrow. The wreck of the Fifeshire on Arrow Rock (now called Fifeshire Rock in memory of this disaster) in 1842 proved the difficulty of the passage. A cut was later made in the bank in 1906, which allowed larger vessels access to the port.
Many people believe Nelson has the best climate in New Zealand, as it regularly tops the national statistics for sunshine hours, which is great for the outdoors and adventurous types.

 

Some Interesting Facts & Names you may see Around Nelson

The city is home to New Zealand’s oldest school of music and the oldest state secondary school, Nelson College.

Nelson was named after the British Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson, who defeated both the French & Spanish Fleets and was killed at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 at the age of 47. Nelson is New Zealand's second oldest city and was settled in 1841.
Many of Nelson's Roads & Public areas are named after the people and ships associated with the Battle. Trafalgar Street being its main Street.

Lord Ernest Rutherford was also born in Nelson in 1871, he was a chemist and physicist . Rutherford
became known as the 'father' of nuclear physics. He was awarded a nobel prize in 1908. Rutherford
performed his most famous work after he received this prize. In 1911, he postulated that atoms have
their positive charge concentrated in a very small nucleus and thereby pioneered the Rutherford Module,
or planetary, model of the atom, through his discovery and interpretation of Rutherford Scattering in his
gold foil experiment. He is widely credited with first splitting the atom in 1917, and leading the first experiment to “split the nucleus” in a controlled manner by two students under his direction in 1932.

New Zealand is known as a rugby nation - Charles John Monro a (Nelson College Old Boy) is known as “the father of Rugby in New Zealand” he is credited with bringing Rugby Union to our land. - in fact he introduced the first rugby match which took place in Nelson on 14 May 1870. he organised the first inter-provincial Rugby fixture in New Zealand between Nelson and Wellington. The first inter-College Rugby match in New Zealand was played between Nelson College and Wellington College in Wellington in 1876. Wellington won this match, but Nelson won the return match.
on the left hand tabs for individual towns and areas.

1862 - First railway opens - a horse-drawn tramway from Dun Mountain copper mine to Port Nelson.  Initially constructed to carry the chrome ore from the mines to Nelson's Port, the railway also provided a well-used passenger service between the Port and Nelson city for nearly four decades. When the Dun Mountain Railway Company applied for permission to cross Nelson's city streets with its railway lines, the Provincial Council and Government required the Company to run at least one public passenger train per day - New Zealand's first public transport. A new Railway Act required that the locomotives travel through Nelson at a maximum of four miles per hour.

By January 10, 1866,it was reported to the directors that the chrome deposits were completely exhausted and mining operations were suspended.
The Company went into liquidation in 1872. But the last remnant of the railway - the horse drawn tram - continued to operate half hourly between Hardy Street and the Tasman Hotel at the Port until 1901. The line to the mines was finally lifted in 1907, but the route is still followed by the popular Dun Mountain Walkway.

For more information about the Nelson / Tasman Region click on the individual Town Tabs in the left hand column

Whilst in Nelson Stay at Kingsland Court Motels for your Motel Accommodation