Building material and some supplies had already been brought in by three colony ships in November the year before to help settlers get quickly established. The Fifeshire carried 159 immigrants, including many children. During the long journey from England, fever broke out on the ship, killing 17 passengers.
After dropping Nelson’s first settlers off, the Fifeshire was to leave Nelson for a trade mission in China. But it never made it out of the harbour, running onto Arrow Rock and getting stuck. The crew luckily made it out alive but the Fifeshire was wrecked, at least some parts could be used for some early settler houses. Not much of the ship remains today, but the rock in the harbour was nick-named Fifeshire Rock to remember the crashed ship.
Of course, those brave souls on the Fifeshire were hardly the first folk to live in the region. People of the Ngāti Toa tribe, which just migrated into the area in the 1820s under the leadership of the famous Te Rauparaha, lived here and in Golden Bay.
But there is evidence of Maori settlements in the region from 700 years ago.
The arrival of the Fifeshire, and following ships Lord Auckland, Mary Ann and Lloyds, came after the mapping of New Zealand by James Cook and the Treaty of Waitangi established British government over the country in 1840, The New Zealand Company located Nelson as a good natural harbour and an ideal settlement location.
When the first settlers entered Nelson they found streets, tents and building material already laid out for them by colony ships. Many of the early settlers came from Britain or from other European countries, hoping for a better life in the new colony. With over 3000 settlers arriving within the first two years, Nelson was initially one of the biggest cities in New Zealand.
One of these settlers was Matthew Campbell, an English 27-year old foundry worker. Despite not having any formal education himself he was eager to educate the newly-arrived children, for that reason he worked together with a group of people calling themselves the United Christians.
Together they build a Sunday school which later, when it moved to today’s site of Queens Gardens, became a day school. Campbell became manager of this school and in 1843 co-founder of the Nelson School Society which build many schools in Nelson and other towns in the local area. Campbell was so famous and connected with these schools that they were known as Campbell’s schools.
He was active in local schools until his death in 1883 and often saved schools with his own money due to the Nelson School Society receiving little support in the early years.
Although many things were already prepared for the settlers, life wasn’t exactly easy in the new country far away from their original homes.
Much of the infrastructure was non-existent and basic services like schools or a fire watch had to be newly established.
Though not entirely isolated thanks to the harbour, news and information took a long time to arrive in Nelson until Telegraph and, later, Telephone lines were built up.
Looking for new valuable farmland, some settlers left Nelson for the Waimea Plains and Golden Bay. Towns like Richmond and Motueka sprung up soon after Nelson and established unique businesses on their own.
Acknowledging Nelson’s importance for New Zealand, Queen Victoria declared Nelson city a Bishops Seat in 1858.
After that, the population of the city grew again and a search for new labour began, which was provided by chromium mines in the nearby mountains. The mining business soon fell into decline, but Nelson at that time already was an important trading and shipping city with connection to the whole world.
By the late 19th century, all kinds of new businesses were growing in Nelson and the harbour supplied the whole north of the South Island with overseas goods. The mail service was not good at that time, with inland cities of the south island just accessible by small dirt roads and no regular post service. But two brothers were out to change that.
Born in 1850 and 1859, Henry and Thomas Newman established one of the biggest transport companies in New Zealand.
Accepting their first contract in 1879, a mail delivery from Foxhill to Longford near Murchison, the company had a rough start. But in 1887 their first tri-weekly passenger and transport tours started from Nelson to Blenheim, after that the company just kept growing.
Starting in 1911, the company also ran motorized vehicles and remained the one of the biggest transport companies until the 1960s. Henry died in 1919 and Thomas in 1944, but they left behind a great company which still exists today as a part of the InterCity group.
The people of Nelson profited greatly from the transport innovations in the 20th century, making Nelson more accessible from the outside, and in that way enabling tourism to grow in the area and neighbouring regions like Golden Bay.
The city of Nelson and the neighbouring towns were always well-known for the fruit and seafood industries, making it an important exporting city.
In recent years, the wine industry and tourism make up the largest part of Nelson’s economy.
Since 1843 the arrival of the first settlers has been celebrated with an anniversary day and many special events.
Over the years these have included the sailboat regattas held in Nelson and organised processions.
Timeline of Nelson’s History:
1842: Arrival of the first settlers on the Fifeshire, followed by a quick build-up of basic houses and infrastructure. The year saw the first school being built in Nelson and the first newspaper, Nelson Examiner, be printed by Charles Elliott.
1851: The first Anglican Church on Church Hill, which would later become the Cathedral of Nelson, is finished. The Church was expanded several times, but it was damaged by an earthquake and later a fire, in 1893 and 1920, making it unrepairable.
1853: First Nelson Provincial Council is formed for the newly-established Province of Nelson, which at this time included the whole north of the South Island.
Edward Stafford, who later became Prime Minister, becomes first superintended of the Nelson Province, which existed until 1876.
1858: Nelson becomes city and Bishops Seat – although today celebrated as a major event in the city’s history, it happened with little celebration at the time just a small article in the local newspaper, Nelson Examiner headed, “Nelson
a City”.
1870: First rugby game played in New Zealand is held in Nelson between Nelson College and the Nelson Football Club, at The Botanics.
1906: The Cut is completed which made accessing the harbour much easier. It was a grand engineering achievement for the small city, and the first boat, Rotoiti, which went through the Cut had over 800 cheering Nelson residents on board celebrating the event.
1914: First Nelson volunteers are sent to Europe in WW1, with many of them having their first combat experience at the beaches of Gallipoli in Turkey which led to a disaster for the ANZAC Expeditionary Forces. Public opinion first mainly supported the war, until this disaster which led to major protests in Australia and New Zealand.
1929: The Murchison Earthquake hits Nelson and causes 17 deaths and substantial damage to buildings and infrastructure. Centred near Murchison, hence the name, this 7.8 earthquake was the most severe earthquake recorded in the Nelson area and left many people homeless for several months.
1937: Nelson Airport is opened. Although the first plane visited Nelson as early as 1921, the opening of Nelson Airport close to the city centre lead to greater possibilities for both tourism and trade. During WW2, the RNZAF Station Nelson was a training station for many pilots in the air force and further developed the infrastructure of the airport.
1954: Elizabeth II visits Nelson as Queen for the first time, although that was not the first time a royal visited, because of the 1927 visit by Elizabeth I the Duchess of York. The parade was colourful and loud with the whole city was watching as the Queen was driven down Trafalgar St.
1987: First World of Wearable Arts awards in Nelson. This fashion and arts show, founded by Dame Suzie Moncrieff and Heather Palmer, started out with great success and quickly became an annual event. Growing each year, the show features local and overseas fashion incorporating art and is now held in Wellington.
