Story: Governors and governors-general

Government House, Wellington (4th of 6)

Government House, Wellington

In 1865 Governor George Grey moved into New Zealand Company agent William Wakefield’s old house in Wellington (shown here in the 1840s). Regretting its demolition in 1871, the Wellington Independent noted that after Wakefield, the house ‘was transferred to the paternal rule, which it has survived, of Downing Street, and it has lived to seen the rise and progress of real self-government … there the reticent astuteness of Wakefield, the garrulous pen of Eyre, the oblique statesmanship of Grey, and the constitutional rule of Bowen have from time to time, affected the fortunes of New Zealand’ (19 April 1871, p. 2).

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Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: A-090-007
Watercolour by Robert Park

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page:

Gavin McLean, 'Governors and governors-general - Vice-regal support', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/artwork/33663/government-house-wellington (accessed 30 March 2024)

Story by Gavin McLean, published 20 Jun 2012, reviewed & revised 28 Sep 2016