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Sarau
Growing Sarau from the German Roots upThe 12,000 mile voyage of the St. Pauli from Hamburg, Germany to Nelson, New Zealand, in 1843 resulted in the eventual establishment of the village of Sarau in the...
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Hampden Street School
Hampden Street School 1868 - 2009: The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same Walking around Hampden Street School today, it is hard to imagine what it must have been like over 140 years...
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Whakapapa
Whakapapa is the bedrock of Māori society.In mid-1995 a hui of kaumatua from throughout Aotearoa considered commonalities and differences between tribes in matters of tikanga regarding customary rights...
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Sealord The Wounded Phoenix
Noleen Burton and NZ Sea Products Administration Manager, Peter Exnevad, December 1966It was with a sense of déjà vu that I read in the Nelson Mail on Saturday March 14 20091, ‘More jobs to get the...
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Pelorus Jack
A world famous dolphinFor nearly 25 years, Pelorus Jack, a Risso's dolphin, met and escorted ships travelling between Wellington and Nelson across Admiralty Bay, north of French Pass.In 1904, he was...
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James Akersten
Landscape and studio photographer, James Akersten spent many years living and working around Havelock and Nelson and many of his photographs are in collections at the Nelson Provincial Museum and the...
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Lily Robertson and the Lighthouse
My Life by Lily Robertson (1878-1956)Nelson Lighthouse Excerpt from the Lighthouse by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, from Lily's diary.Click image to enlargeMy birthplace was at the home of my...
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Nelson’s Early Churches
The first settlers to Nelson brought with them a variety of religious beliefs and backgrounds. The system of hierarchy and emphasis on religion in immigrants' homelands were important, and even though...
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Albert Edward Cresswell
Albert Edward Cresswell, 1882-1916, was the fifth of ten children belonging to William Daniel and Elizabeth Fanny (née St. John) Cresswell of Stoke. Albert’s father was a gardener and worked for the...
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Theodore Rigg and World War One
Theodore Rigg (KBE, 1888-1972) was highly regarded as Director of the Cawthron Institute in Nelson from 1934-1956. During World War One, as a Quaker, he devoted himself to philanthropic...
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New Zealand’s first game of rugby
The crowd of Nelsonians gathered at The Botanics one May day in 1870 had no idea that they were witnessing the birth of a New Zealand tradition, rugby..... The 1873 Nelson Rugby Football Club. The...
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Wairau Bar
Kitchen midden found on the Wairau BarThis story is an edited version of an article written by Steve Austin, Chief Executive of the Marlborough Museum and published in Wild Tomato, 2008Today the Wairau...
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Marlborough Aviation
Imagine the excitement in August, 1920 when Captain Euan Dickson touched down in his Avro 504K, D6243 on a Dillon's Point (Blenheim) farm. He was en route from Christchurch to Wellington – the first...
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William Harkness
The ideal settlerWhen William Harkness, and his older brother John disembarked from the Thomas Sparks at Nelson on 26th February 1843, it was to be the beginning of a productive and profitable...
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Early Richmond
It is thought Māori used the Tasman region as a rich food and flax resource from as early as 1350 AD.1 However, a lack of archaeological evidence suggests there were no Māori settlements in the...
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Early colonial life in Nelson
Nelson’s early EuropeansWho were the first European colonists to Nelson? What kind of people were they?They were tough and inventive. Nelson’s first European houses were often built from little more...
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Early Nelson College
Fire, earthquake and a Nobel laureateNelson College was established in 1856 with high hopes that Nelson would become the ‘Eton of the South’.Nelson College. Principal's Residence on the left. Copy of...
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Havelock
Havelock was a goldrush town which, for a short time, nurtured two of New Zealand’s greatest scientists: Sir Ernest Rutherford and Sir William Pickering.The SS Manaroa leaving Havelock. [The Manaroa...
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John Wallis Barnicoat 1814-1905
Surveyor and Speaker of the Nelson Provincial Council Born in Falmouth, Barnicoat was articled as a civil engineer before immigrating to New Zealand as a cabin passenger on the Lord Auckland, which...
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Reservoir Creek, Richmond
A history of early European settlementThe European colonisation of Nelson (including Waimea East) was conceived and planned by the New Zealand Company in London at the beginning of the 1840.’1 A copy...
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