Kōrero: Colonial and provincial government

Grave of Edward Gibbon Wakefield

Grave of Edward Gibbon Wakefield

Edward Gibbon Wakefield, publicist and promoter of the New Zealand Company’s colonisation plan for New Zealand, made his final home in Wellington, the first of the New Zealand Company settlements to be established. He died there on 16 May 1862. His tombstone, in Bolton Street Cemetery, Wellington, records that he was:

founder of the colonies of New Zealand and South Australia
author of the system of colonisation which bears his name
personal advisor to Lord Durham, governor-general of Canada 1838
elected to the Canadian lower house of assembly in 1842
founded New Zealand Association and New Zealand Company
organized preliminary expedition to establish settlements
arrived in New Zealand in 1853 and elected member
of provincial council of Wellington and of general assembly’

The inscription closes with a statement intended to sum up Wakefield's contribution to the settling of New Zealand: ‛the utmost happiness God vouchsafes to man on earth – the realization of his own idea.’

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
Photograph by Melanie Lovell-Smith

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Te tuhi tohutoro mō tēnei whārangi:

Malcolm McKinnon, 'Colonial and provincial government - The crown colony, 1840 to 1852', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/mi/photograph/35473/grave-of-edward-gibbon-wakefield (accessed 29 March 2024)

He kōrero nā Malcolm McKinnon, i tāngia i te 20 Jun 2012, reviewed & revised 6 Oct 2023