Story: City history and people

In Western culture, cities were often represented as the pinnacle of civilisation. The growth of New Zealand cities was used by immigration agents to reassure potential migrants that New Zealand was not a barbaric backwater. This 1870s drawing of Government House in Wellington highlights the building’s grandeur and cultivated environs, reinforcing the perception that that the city was urbane. It comes from a collection of letters written by emigration agent Arthur Clayden and published in 1879.