page 54

Nelson 1841–1991 Some Historical Facts And Firsts

Alan Turley and Tony Harris

Nelson's oldest organisation, and still functioning, the Nelson Literary and Scientific Institute, was formed on board the Whitby near Tenerife, en route to Nelson, on 17 May 1841. The Institute continued to operate the Nelson Institute Library until it was taken over by the Nelson City Council in 1965.

The first free public secular system of education in New Zealand, the Nelson School Society was formed on 27 March 1842. Known as the 'Nelson System', it was later used as the model for the national system. The first public school in New Zealand opened in Nelson on 12 September 1842.

The first and only organised German settlement in New Zealand. In 1843 and 1844, 281 emigrants from Hamburg in Germany settled in the Nelson district. More settlers arrived later.

The first recognised race course in New Zealand was established at Stoke, in 1845. The Nelson Jockey Club, formed on 18 March 1848, has justifiable claim to be the first horse racing club in New Zealand.

The first commercial cloth manufactured in New Zealand was woven by Thomas Blick in 1845–48. He built his own water wheel in the Brook Stream to power his loom and German settlers spun the first wool. "Nelson Cloth" continued to be sold in New Zealand up until about 1908.

The first district in New Zealand to issue its own printed currency. Issued in 1848 by merchants Morrison and Sclanders under the title of Nelson Bank, it was guaranteed by the Union Bank of Australia and used as public tender in Nelson until 1854.

The first Baptist Church in New Zealand was established in 1851 by Rev. Decimus Dollimore on land donated by the New Zealand Company (the present site).

The first commercial thoroughbred horse breeding in New Zealand was commenced by Henry Redwood, 'the Father of New Zealand Turf', in 1852 with thoroughbreds imported from Australia. In 1858 he was the first New Zealander to race New Zealand bred horses in Australia.

The first port in New Zealand to have its own steamship; the iron steamship 'Nelson' commenced service on 5 March 1854 for the Nelson Steam Navigation Company.-

New Zealand's oldest state secondary school, Nelson College, the architecture and the curriculum both modelled on Eton College, was opened initially as a private school in 1856.

Nelson, New Zealand's second City, became a City by Royal Charter, signed by Queen Victoria on 27 September 1858. It achieved City population status in 1951.

The first railway in New Zealand was opened on 3 February 1862. The Dun Mountain horse drawn railway transported chromite ore from the Dun Mountain to Port Nelson. The town section became the first street tramway in New Zealand in May 1862 and operated until June 1901.

The first Rugby Club in New Zealand, the Nelson Rugby Club began 30 May 1868 as a 'football club' and reformed as the first Rugby Club on 14 May 1870. The first rugby match in New Zealand was played at the Botanic Gardens on 14 May 1870 between the Nelson Rugby Club and Nelson College.

In 1876 New Zealand's first international telegraph cable went into service between Nelson (Wakapuaka) and Sydney. It connected New Zealand through to England and Europe.

page 55

The first private school of music in New Zealand, the Nelson School of Music was established in 1894 and for many years issued its own 'Letters' of licentiate.

On 3 February 1915, the 12th Nelson Company – of the Canterbury Battalion – commanded by Major C B Brereton of Nelson, fired the first New Zealand shots of World War I at Serapeum, near Suez, when a major Turkish attempt to cross the canal was repulsed.

The first private scientific research institute in New Zealand, the Cawthron Institute, endowed by Sir Thomas Cawthron, was established in 1920.

The first New Zealand born Prime Minister of New Zealand, Sir Francis H Dillon Bell, was born at Nelson on 31 March 1851. He was Prime Minister during 1925. Five other Prime Ministers of New Zealand, Stafford, Fox, Domett, Rowling and Palmer all came from Nelson.

Nelson's greatest son, Ernest Rutherford, "the Father of Nuclear Physics" was the first born New Zealander to receive the Nobel Prize, in 1908 – for Chemistry and the first to be elevated to the peerage, in 1931.