Source: wcc.govt.nz

The earliest name for Wellington, from Maori legend, is Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui. In Maori it means "the head of Maui's fish." Caught and pulled to the surface by Polynesian navigator Maui, the fish became the North Island.

The Polynesian explorer Kupe is credited with the initial discovery of Wellington Harbour. From Maori tradition it is estimated he arrived with his followers around the 10th century. Several places around the Wellington peninsula were named by Kupe - for example Matiu (Somes) Island and Makaro (Ward) Island. People have lived here since Kupe's discovery.

Te Whanganui-a-Tara (the great harbour of Tara) is another Maori name for Wellington.

Tara was the son of Whatonga, another Polynesian migrant, who had settled in Hawkes Bay. Whatonga sent Tara on a tour of inspection of the lower North Island in the 12th century. After a year Tara returned and reported that the best place he had seen was "at the very nostrils of the island."

As a result Whatonga and his followers shifted south - the first iwi (tribe) in Wellington was thus Ngai Tara.

Ngai Tara eventually amalgamated with another iwi, Ngati Ira. Other iwi associated with the area were Ngati Kahungunu, Ngai Tahu, and Ngati Mamoe. Since the beginning of the 19th century iwi including Ngati Mutunga, Ngati Tama, Te Atiawa and Ngati Toa have migrated to the Wellington region.

Today the manawhenua (local guardianship) interests in Wellington city are administered by the Wellington Tenths Trust/Nga Tekau o Poneke, which comprises descendants from Taranaki iwi, of which Te Atiawa is the largest. Ngati Toa, by virtue of its boundary to the west, also has an interest within Wellington city.

In addition, Maori with tribal affiliations stretching from the Far North to the Deep South live and work in Wellington and contribute to the cultural diversity of the city.

Evidence of early Maori settlement and cultivation can be found at sites all around the Wellington peninsula.

What's in a name?

Wellington is named after Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington (1769-1852). After distinguishing himself in the Indian Army (1797-1805), he commanded the British Army against Napoleon in the Peninsular War (1808-14) and at Waterloo (1815). He was British Prime Minister from 1828 to 1830. The settlement was named Wellington in 1840 by the directors of the New Zealand Company in recognition of the Duke's influence on the company. The settlement was originally to be called Britannia.

Anniversary Day

Wellington's Anniversary Day is marked by a provincial holiday on the third Monday of January. The first observance of the day, in 1841, marked the anniversary of the arrival of the Aurora, with some 150 New Zealand Company settlers, in Wellington on 22 January 1840 after a four-month voyage from Gravesend, England. The highlight of the first Anniversary Day was a horse race meeting on Te Aro Flat.

The first NZ Company vessel to arrive in Wellington was the Tory, on 20 September 1839. Among its six passengers were NZ Company representatives William Wakefield, his nephew Edward, and noted explorer and artist Charles Heaphy.

Apart from the Tory and Aurora, other early settler ships included the Cuba, Oriental, Roxburgh, Adelaide, Glenbervie, Bolton and Coromandel - all remembered in Wellington street names. New Zealand Company directors and a host of notable early settlers are also remembered in other street and place names around the region.

Visitors to Wellington can visit sites of historical significance with the help of a Heritage Trails Map produced by Wellington City Council.

Why is Wellington the Capital City?

A "one-off" sitting of Parliament occurred in Wellington on 7 July 1862 but it was not until some time later that the city became the official home of Government.

According to Philip Temple in his book Wellington Yesterday, in November 1863 Alfred Domett moved a resolution in the Parliament at Auckland that "it has become necessary that the seat of government...should be transferred to some suitable locality in Cook Strait." Temple writes that there was genuine concern that the gold-rich southern regions of the country would form a separate colony. A group of Australian commissioners gave the "objective" opinion that Wellington, with its harbour and central location, would suit best and Parliament sat for the first time in the town (pop 4900) on 26 July 1865.

City status was conferred on Wellington in 1886.