Discovery Of Nelson Haven Commemorated

Today, where once water lapped the shore, stands a commemorative plaque marking the discovery on October 20, 1841, of Nelson Haven, by a party which had rowed across Tasman Bay from the ships led by Captain Arthur Wakefield. The event was marked last month when the plaque was unveiled at a ceremony organised by the Nelson regional committee of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, A similar plaque, commemorating the finding of the first payable gold field in the South Island, was also unveiled at Collingwood.

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Mr J. A. Jenkins outlines the historical background of the discovery

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Mrs B. Hippolite, snr, reenacts the Maori welcome to the first settlers.

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Mrs Hippolite and her nephew, Selwyn, descendants of Pito, who accompanied the first Europeans, unveils the plaque.

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Nelson Haven as it was in 1921.