HOBSON’S LANDING PLACE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 233, 30 August 1935, Page 2

HOBSON’S LANDING PLACE.

OBELISK TO BE ERECTED. AUCKLAND MAYOR’S TRIBUTE. Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, Aug. 29. A gesture of great historical interest to the Dominion as well as to Auckland has been made by Mr Ernest Davis (Mayor of Auckland), who will have erected at his own expense a monument marking the place where Captain William Hobson, R.N., the first Lieutenant-Governor of New Zealand, landed at Auckland. The monument, an obelisk of granite from Waterloo Bridge London, now being demolished, will be erected at the eastern end of Orakei Bav. The Mayor reported his proposal to the council to-night. , Captain Hobson rejected the Bay of Islands as the capital and founded Auckland in September, 1840. His death occurred two years later, and he was buried in a humble grave in Grafton G’ully. Through cabled inquiries, in which the High Commissioner ( Sir James Parr) has been concerned, the Mayor has under offer a sufficient quantity of granite from Waterloo Bridge. Captain Hobson must have crossed the bridge frequently during his lifetime, stated the Mayor. The obelisk will be twenty feet high and will be placed on the spot indicated by two aged Maoris at Orakei settlement as the authentic landing place. These Maoris, Pehiru Peoro and Watene Tautari, died two years ago. Remnants of the Ngatiwhatua tribe, which occupied Auckland at the time of Captain Hobson’s arrival, now live at Orakei.