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Theodore Rigg and World War One
Theodore Rigg (KBE, 1888-1972) was highly regarded as Director of the Cawthron Institute in Nelson from 1934-1956. During World War One, as a Quaker, he devoted himself to philanthropic...
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The Mayoral Shop
The premises at 83-86 Bridge Street in Nelson were the birthplace of the mayoral ambitions of three families.The first owner Moss Davis (1847-1933), an early Nelson Jewish merchant, set up shop in the...
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Nelson Refinery and Tobacco
The Nelson Refinery, currently the ArtSpace, was once the home of the Nelson Tobacco Company.New Zealand Tobacco CompanyIn 1910 Gerhard Husheer emigrated to New Zealand to attempt to establish a...
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The Path to Nuclear Free Nelson
The campaign to declare New Zealand nuclear free in the 1980s began at the local level throughout the country. In September 1983 Nelson City was declared a Nuclear Weapon Free Zone. This is the story...
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Pitt Memorial Gates Nelson
Excerpts from the Colonist 3 May, 1914: The Pitt Memorial Gates.1Pitt Gates Opening Ceremony Nelson Provincial Museum 309897"The formal opening of the handsome gates erected on the Bridge Street side...
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Taonga Pūoro or Singing Treasures
The first Polynesian settlers in Aotearoa were greeted by a noisy soundscape and a plethora of new materials for making musical instruments. Centuries later, the botanist Joseph Banks described the...
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From Cairo to Ngatimoti
Or Around the World in 100 Years: the WW1 postcard that lost its wayFront of Hector Guy’s postcard. A. McFadgenPoignant flotsam from the First World War, postcards written by serving soldiers to...
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Apple Day
Supporting our BoysDuring World War 1, the good folk of Nelson came up with many ideas related to something they did well - growing things - to raise morale and money for local servicemen. Between...
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Trask Memorial Gates Queens Gardens
Francis Reuben Trask (1840 – 5 April 1910) was a 20th-century Member of the Legislative Council from Nelson, New Zealand and Mayor of Nelson. He also served on the Nelson Harbour Board from its...
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Blick Cloth
Blick Cloth is reputed to be the first woven cloth in New Zealand. It was also known as Nelson Cloth or Nelson Tweed, and was 'described as 'good rough woollen cloth' (Anon,1845:5).1 It was...
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Trooper Ralph Vincent James and his Monument
Collingwood lad, Trooper Ralph Vincent James 2483, died of enteric fever (typhoid fever) on 20 November 1900 at Zeerust Transvaal, South Africa while serving in the Boer War for the Fifth Contingent of...
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Nelson's power struggle
Electricity was not commonly used in New Zealand until late in the 19th Century, with some cities and towns using electricity for street lighting and trams from 1888. Many businesses and industrial...
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Early colonial life in Nelson
Nelson’s early EuropeansWho were the first European colonists to Nelson? What kind of people were they?They were tough and inventive. Nelson’s first European houses were often built from little more...
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Nelson essentials - water and sewage
‘Bright pure water’ and sewageNew Zealand’s early cities reeked of rotting rubbish, dead animals and excrement, and water sources were often contaminated. By contrast, Māori settlements were hygienic,...
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Percy Adams and his gates
Percy Adams Memorial Gates, Wakapuaka CemeteryPercy Bolland Adams was born in Marlborough on 5 March 1854. His father William Adams, owner of Langley Dale1 station, was a Lawyer, was briefly the...
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Old Folks Hall Nelson
A well-used landmark of Nelson is the modest building with floor to ceiling windows beside the Trafalgar bridge overlooking the Maitai River. Constructed in the 1956, the hall was the brain child of...
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Waimea River Stopbank
Stopping a wipe outBefore the building of the stop bank by the Nelson Catchment Board between 1957-63, floods were a major problem at the mouth of the Waimea River. The first stopbank was wiped out and...
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Croquet in Nelson
Croquet was introduced to the Nelson area by the German immigrants who arrived on the Saint Pauli and settled in the Moutere district. Croquet became the accepted pastime of colonists and Sunday...
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Nayland College - daring to be different
Daring to be DifferentStoke’s co-educational Nayland College was established in 1966 in the shadow of the long and highly respected history and traditions of the Nelson’ city’s single sex schools. Bill...
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Trathens Store
Trathen’s – department store shopping in NelsonThe sophistication of department store shopping was introduced to Nelson by the Trathen family, whose flagship building with high, art deco windows stood...
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