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Allports Island
The correct name for this island, in front of Waikawa Bay, is Motu Ngarara (Lizard Island), although for some years it was known as ‘Goat Island’ when Thomas Allport leased it and ran sheep and goats...
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Apple Day
Supporting our BoysDuring World War 1, the good folk of Nelson came up with many ideas related to something they did well - growing things - to raise morale and money for local servicemen. Between...
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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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Ligar Bay
A small Golden Bay settlement, Ligar Bay, is currently divided over a disagreement of the fate of eight small baches built on council land. A licence which permitted the baches to be built on council...
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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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Nelson Provincial Buildings
These days, a glance along Nelson's skyline reveals our city’s prominent buildings; the Clock tower, the Rutherford Hotel and the Cathedral. Rewind one hundred years, however, and you would discover...
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The Picton volunteers
In early Pakeha settlement, the tradition of a voluntary military service was carried over from England, and a Volunteer Corps was formed in New Zealand, mainly because of the perceived threat from...
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Te Tau Ihu Maori and the Taranaki Wars
On 17 March 1860 Government troops attacked the pa Te Kohia at Waitara, North Taranaki, stronghold of Wiremu Kingi Te Rangitaake of Te Atiawa and his followers. Te Rangitaake was deemed a rebel...
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Nelson's Dress Circle
The streets around Brougham Street and Upper Collingwood Street are often known as Nelson's Dress Circle, due to their elevated position and the number of large old houses sited there. This story is a...
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Early Renwick
Scottish town on the Wairau Plain Scotsman, Dr Thomas Renwick, was the ship's surgeon on the Thomas Harrison, which arrived in Nelson in 1842. He bought Dumgree in the Awatere in 1848, and the Delta...
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Pioneers Park
Opened officially as Pioneers Park in 1929, the name unofficially dropped the 's' in the mid 1930s and today is known by both names. Over the decades the Park has been used for a variety of local...
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Alton Street
Maori heritageThe earliest human footprints across the Mahitahi floodplain, upon which Nelson City now sits, belong to the tangata whenua and manawhenua tribes of Whakatu. What is now Alton Street was...
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Renwick House
Renwick House was originally called Newstead, and was the home of Sir David Monro from 1864. Monro was an active member of the Nelson Institute as well as a doctor, famous botanist and politician....
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Appo Hocton
Jumped ship to become first Chinese Immigrant to New Zealand It was an unconventional arrival for New Zealand's first Chinese immigrant in 1842. Wong Ah Poo Hoc Ting, approx.1820-1920, and who became...
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Early Marlborough Settlers
An overview..There was plenty of opportunity for an able man (supported by an equally able wife) in the early days of a colony. All of the people listed below had their fingers in many pies: business,...
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Dr Thomas Renwick
A busy settler in early Marlborough and NelsonDr Thomas Renwick was born in Dumfries, Scotland in 1818, trained as a doctor and quickly rose through the ranks of the Royal Navy as a ships’ doctor. On...
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The Renwick family
A slice of early colonial lifeThe Marlborough Museum Archives collection has digitised hundreds of letters donated by Annie Ball, which relate to the life of Dr Thomas Renwick’s family.Renwick family...
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Enoch and Ann Jellyman and nephew Enoch Jellyman
Seaview Cemetery. Block 24, plot 477.Enoch and Ann Jellyman1 arrived in Nelson on the Bolton in 1842. They settled in Poormans, now Marsden, Valley, as tenants.2The Jellyman headstone at Seaview...
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Isaac Jacobsen - colonial Nelson architect and builder
Isaac Jacobsen, a man described as one of Nelson's early unsung heroes, was the subject of a meeting of the Nelson Historical Society in August 2012.Jane Baird of Takaka, a descendant of Jacobsen, told...
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Nelson's Dress Circle
The streets around Brougham Street and Upper Collingwood Street are often known as Nelson's Dress Circle, due to their elevated position and the number of large old houses sited there. This story is a...
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