THE SETTLEMENT 1840

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 201, 26 August 1939, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE SETTLEMENT 1840

On his av>val in New Zealand, Captain Hobson made His capital at Kororareka, now Russell, but soon found that although it was a well-populated district and a popular port, it did not fit in with his ideas of a capital. He therefore sought the advice of a Rev. H- Williams, who had assisted him as interpreter at the Treaty of Waitangi, as to the suitability of some other part of New Zealand. The reverend gentleman recommended the Tamaki or the Waitemata. A Mr. Mathew, the Surveyor-General, visited both these places and favoured the Tamaki, or more particularly where Panmure now stands. Hobson apparently not satisfied, later visited both places and decided on the Waitemata. The printed matter in the sketch tells why. He also decided on calling it Auckland after Lord Auckland, a member of the Eden family, who had helped him, and to whom Hobson was grateful.

We thus see that if it had not been for Hobson's visit, the capital wquld have been at its first beginnings at

In September, 1840, the ship Anna Watson left Kordrareka with tKe Government officers on board and reached tbe Waitemata on September 15, having previously decided upon the site, and at 1 p.m. on the I Stti the ceremony of taking possession in the name Her Majesty Queen Victoria was cairied out on a bold headland overlooking the harbour. The flag hoisted, cheers given and guns fired, after which a regatta was held, races being arranged for the sailors and the Maoris, who paddled large canoes. Thus the settlement. was well on its way. For those who believe in lucky and unlucky days, the prosperity of Auckland is evidence of how foolish such a belief is, for September 18, 1840, was a Friday.