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Story: Modern mapping and surveying

The Mt Cook trig station

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The Mt Cook trig station

This plaque, on the floor of the foyer at Massey University in Wellington (in a building that was formerly the National Museum), marks the position of the former Mt Cook trig station, which was once the zero point of the New Zealand land survey system.

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Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

by Melanie Lovell-Smith

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How to cite this page

Melanie Lovell-Smith, Modern mapping and surveying – Government surveying and mapping, 1870–1900, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/18891/the-mt-cook-trig-station (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Melanie Lovell-Smith, published 1 March 2009, updated 1 August 2018.