Early Wellington
Naming of Wellington
Naming of Wellington.
The Directors of the Company signified to their principal agent their earnest wish that the town founded on the shores of Lambton Harbour might be named after the Duke of Wellington, in order to commemorate the important support which His Grace had lent to the cause of colonization in general… and by his strenuous and successful defence against its enemies of the measure for colonizing South Australia. The settlers took up the view of the Directors with great cordiality, and the new name was at once adopted.
Fig. 30—Plan of the Town of Wellington in 1840. Surveyed by Capt. W. Mein-Smith, N.Z., 1st Surveyor-general to the N.Z. Company, and drawn by William Bannister, Surveyor. The figures above the section numbers denote the order of choice at the Ballot in England in 1839.
“We appear for the second time written a few months under a modified title, but we trust our friends will not consider it typical of our character. When we first issued our journal, the name and the site of the town were alike uncertain, we therefore abstained from using a special designation. The time arrived when the site of the town was surveyed and its name declared, and we adopted the one and rescinded the other at our earliest convenience.”