Not only is Wellington the cultural and commercial centre of New Zealand, it is of course also the political capital. Ever since the seat of government was shifted to Wellington in 1865 politics have defined Wellington, making it a special New Zealand city. Not only does Parliament and Government carry out their business from here but also the head offices of government departments and many private companies are based here. Political party headquarters, political conferences, protesters and lobbyists also see this as the place to base themselves and air their concerns. As a result the world’s most southern capital city has some interesting sites of political and historic importance.
This lengthy blog post is actually an attempt I made a few years ago to put together a list and commentary on all the sites of political interest in the capital. One day I might do something more with this, so any feedback, corrections, and ideas are very welcome and sought.
Parliamentary Institutions
Obviously the most political part of Wellington can be found at Parliament, which is located at the northern end of Lambton Quay on a small hill that once ran down to the harbour shore before land reclamation occurred. It's fairly certain that Maori lived where Parliament stands today, but the first recorded building went up in 1840, when Colonial William Wakefield – one of the nation’s founders – built his home there.
Right from the early days of 1840, Wellingtonians believed that their city should become the capital, and the town-planners set aside the area for the Parliamentary complex. Wakefield sold his house to the Governor and the first Wellington Provincial Council buildings were built beside it. Today, four totally different styles of buildings make up Parliament Buildings: the Modernist Beehive, the Edwardian-classic Old Parliament Buildings, the neo-gothic Parliamentary Library, and 1990s-era high-rise Bowen House.
The Beehive
New Zealand politics and the city of Wellington in general have come to be symbolised by the modernist circular building known as “the Beehive”. Officially titled the “Executive Wing” of the parliamentary complex, this distinctive 14-storey building has ten storeys above the ground and four below. Conceived of by British architect Sir Basil Spence, allegedly on a table napkin after a long lunch, its construction began in 1970 and was finally completed in 1982.
The building houses Ministers and their staff, with a Cabinet meeting room on top, the Prime Minister's offices immediately below it on the Ninth floor, and then with Ministers in descending order below. Also housed in the Beehive is a reception foyer, banquet hall, press conference theatrette, swimming pool, and the dining rooms and bars of Bellamy's. The bunker at the bottom of the Beehive is the national Civil Defence headquarters in an emergency. It is said to be the place that politicians will take cover in the event of a nuclear attack or tsunami – although unfortunately, the bunker is also prone to flooding.
The beehive has served well as an emblem of government and, to a lesser extent, an icon of Wellington. Yet while it makes an unforgettable visual statement, for the building’s 330 staff and politicians, the design is far from ideal, and the unusual design of the rooms has probably helped produce some of the unusual decision-making made in the building. Prime Minister Helen Clark is one who believes the design of the building has affected the type of politics practiced within its oddly-shaped walls, commenting that it has ‘made effective working relationships very, very difficult.’ Furthermore, the building has Wellington’s smallest lifts, and basic services such as air conditioning and communications have always been troublesome. A few years ago the Beehive is being spruced-up with a $43 million refit of Cabinet Ministers’ offices to rid it of its 1970s décor, pre-cast concrete and tatty brown carpet, and introduce a silver and grey colour scheme, complete with transparent glass ceilings.
Old Parliament Building
Standing in striking contrast next to the modernist Beehive is Old Parliament Building, which was built in the style of Edwardian classicism. Inside this, the Government and Opposition parties battle it out in a debating chamber that is the same size and proportion as its British model and counterpart. The current building was brought into use from 1918 after the previous gothic Parliament House was destroyed by fire in 1907, yet the planned wing to the south of the main entrance steps was never built. Expensive plans to complete the Old Parliamentary Building by putting the Beehive on wheels and shifting it were quashed in 1997 after a public outcry about excessive spending on politicians. However during the early 1990s the Old Parliamentary Building was renovated and strengthened – mainly due to the existence of an earthquake faultline about 400 metres away from Parliament.
Few protests have occurred inside the building, but in 1987 [?] a number of Democratic Party members, including their leader and MP Garry Knapp barricaded themselves into one of the select committee rooms to protest the inequity of the first-past-the-post electoral system. Equipped with a porta-loo and mobile phone, the protest lasted x days. Then in 1991 a group of anti-gulf war protesters jumped into the debating chamber from the public gallery to protest New Zealand’s support for the war. They dispersed leaflets and burst bags of blood in their clothes for dramatic effect.
The visitors centre is located just below Parliament Building steps. Free public tours of the Parliamentary Complex depart from here most days between 10 am and 4 pm. Tours leave on the hour and take up to one hour to complete. The public can also attend sessions in the Debating Chamber, which sits every Tuesday (2pm-6pm), Wednesday (2pm-6pm, 7:30pm-10pm), and Thursday (10am-1pm, 2pm-6pm) approximately 30 weeks out of the year. The Parliamentary Visitors Centre can be contacted on ph 471 9503.
The Parliamentary Library
The General Assembly Library occupies the East Wing of the Parliamentary Buildings, which is the oldest in the complex. This neo-gothic building was originally designed to be three-storeys high, but an early perk-busting campaign curtailed expenditure making it only two levels high. Built in 1899 of brick, cement and plaster, it survived the 1907 fire which destroyed the wooden Parliament building next door. But in 1992, during the refurbishment, it was badly damaged by another fire, and has since been completely refurbished to its former style.
Bowen House
Across the road from the Beehive, on the corner of Lambton Quay and Bowen Street, is Bowen House – a 22-storey building housing the offices of 43 Backbench MPs, seven Ministers, as well as two ministerial apartments. Between 1991 and 1996, this orange-brown high rise was also the temporary location of the debating chamber, while the refurbishments of the Old Parliament Building took place. It is linked to the Beehive by an underground walkway beneath Bowen Street.
Parliament Grounds
The lawns of Parliament grounds are a popular place for lunches in summer. Protests and political gatherings also occur relatively frequently here, with one of the most famous being that of 10 May 1932 when thousands of Wellington unemployed blocked all traffic at the gates to Parliament grounds. The pent-up anger and frustration of years of unemployment and misery exploded, and the many of the protesters went on to run down Lambton Quay smashing shop windows and looting.
Although the grounds have become established as a traditional protesting place, in recent years it has been more and more difficult to hold rallies there and the Speaker of the House has been keen to enforce rules of behaviour for demonstrators. In 1997, for instance, two groups were refused permission to protest because the Speaker apparently did not like what a group of students were protesting about and because the protest of some teachers coincided with the visit of the president of Argentina. In the case of the students, 75 were then arrested for trespass by 60 police officers in a heavy law-and-order display not seen at Parliament since the 1981 Springbok rugby tour. In the subsequent court case, the trespass charges were dismissed, with the judge criticising the Speaker for breaching the Bill of Rights Act. The Judge maintained that protests in Parliament grounds were a traditional democratic right going back to before 1932 when the grounds were a public domain. The judge confirmed that every person had an implied licence to enter Parliament grounds to protest.
Other recent protests of note include the “Hikoi of Hope” march in September 1998, when Anglican bishops led 5000 people on a 30-day march from the top and bottom of the country to meet in Parliament Grounds and complain about poverty and social injustice. And in March 1998 900 off-duty police officers from around the North Island marched from Civic Square to Parliament and stood in silence to protest against a controversial pay offer. Unemployed rights activist, Sue Bradford, was also arrested and banned from entering the grounds of Parliament in 1999, but the ban had to be lifted when she was elected to Parliament as a Green MP later in the year.
The central flagpole above the steps to the Old Parliament Building flies the national flag whenever the House is sitting inside. At night three lights on the flagpoles indicate that the MPs are in an evening session. Other flagpoles out in front of the steps hoist the national flags of visiting foreign dignitaries.
The rose garden in front of the library celebrates the granting of women’s suffrage with a display of white "Kate Sheppard" camellias, named after the leading New Zealand suffragist. A plaque commemorating the centennial of women's suffrage in 1993 is at the foot of the steps. Kate Sheppard Place is also directly opposite the library steps, and was renamed this as part of 1993’s centenary commemorations. Not far from here – on the north-east corner of Parliament House – there is a plaque commerating the move of the capital from Auckland to Wellington. At the bottom of the hill of Parliamentary Grounds are the iron Parliament Gates, which carry the letters “GV” – the initials of the reigning monarch at the time of their construction, King George V.
Just outside the gates, on the corner of Bowen St and Lambton Quay is the Cenotaph, a marble column erected in 1929 to commemorate the dead of World War I, and rededicated in 1952 to include those who perished in World War II. Inside is the tomb of the unknown soldier, and on top is a sculpture of a bronzed figure on horseback entitled The Will to Peace. This is the where Anzac Day commemorations are held, but it is also the site of many protests – generally anti-war gatherings and vigilances to express solidarity with other people involved in war around the world. One such protest occurred on Anzac Day 1967, when anti-Vietnam protesters attempted to place a wreath on the Cenotaph with the inscription: “To the dead and dying on both sides of Vietnam. Why must their blood pay the price of our mistakes?” After being prevented from laying the wreath by an RSA official, police warned a university lecturer and student that any further attempt to lay the wreath would be a breach of the peace, but they persisted and were arrested and convicted for disorderly behaviour. Interestingly, it was also here in 1937 [?] that the crew of a visiting Italian navy boat staged a celebration for Mussolini.
Bolger Park: Former Site of Broadcasting House
The small park behind the Beehive is the former site of Broadcasting House, which was demolished by the government in 1997 to make way for a $94 million new ministerial building dubbed the “parliamentary palace”. That was shelved in favour of a $200 million “Beehive on wheels” scheme, whereby the 20,000 tonne executive building was to be moved 150 metres to sit behind the Old Parliament Building. When this plan was also scrapped the government decided to create a park in the vacant space. Today the park has no official title, as the area is now considered to be part of the Parliamentary Grounds, but the popular name for it is “Bolger Park”, as Jim Bolger was the Prime Minister at the time and had done more than anyone else to create it. A plaque in the park states the significance of the site and explains the unusual sculptures that stand in it – what looks like a carrot, banana and mushroom, are in fact meant to be an altar, waka, and [something else].
National Radio is now broadcast from Radio New Zealand House at 155 The Terrace. Also on the Terrace, at number 86, is the Wellington office of TVNZ News, which is purposely located near to Parliament.
Also demolished to make way for the “parliamentary palace”, was the Parliamentary Annex that used to house backbench MPs. This decrepit building was viewed by MPs as a very undesirable office location and was nicknamed “Siberia”, because of the tendency for governments to shift dissident MPs here, just as Stalin had shifted dissidents to the outlying and inhospitable Soviet province of Siberia.
Politician Accommodation
Not far from the Parliamentary Grounds, in Thorndon, are many of the state-owned residences of Cabinet Ministers. The most famous is Premier House on Tinakori Road, which houses New Zealand’s Prime Ministers. The house was first built in 1843, but has been extensively added to and altered since then. After becoming a Ministerial home in 1865 a second storey was added in the 1870s, along with a ballroom, New Zealand’s first lift, and what is thought to be New Zealand’s first tennis court.
It has housed a great deal of history, being the home of New Zealand Premiers and Prime Ministers until 1935. The first Premier to live in the house was Sir EW Stafford, followed by Henry Sewell, F Whitaker and Sir Julius Vogel – under whose residence the house became nicknamed "The Casino." Resident Prime Ministers after that included Sir Walter Buller, Sir Joseph Ward, William Massey, Joseph Coates, and George Williams Forbes. There are few accounts of political protests here, but after the 1911 general election crowds gathered around the gates to throw fruit at its occupants, ousted Liberal Premier Joseph Ward, and to shout "We'll hang Joseph Ward from a sour apple tree!"
The house ceased to be the home of the nation’s leaders when the First Labour Government came to power and converted it into a dental clinic as part of their health programme. Regarding the spacious house and gardens as opulent, Michael Joseph Savage believed it was against party principles to occupy such an ostentatious home and so he purchased a bungalow in Northland instead. For years afterwards it was known, to hoards of children who were practiced on by trainee dental nurses, as "The Murder House." After fluoride was added to Wellington's water supply in the 1970s, the dental annex was closed. The house was used as a crèche and then left empty until it was restored as the Prime Minister’s residence under the very different Fourth Labour Government, at the cost of $1.8 million. The National Government spent a further $215,000 refurbishing it, and it now has a valuation of $2.12 million. Sir Geoffrey Palmer was the first modern era Prime Minister to occupy it, and it is currently the Wellington home of the Prime Minister, Helen Clark, whose aunt is believed to have trained as a dental nurse here in the 1940s. Fellow Labour MP, Judith Tizard lives in one of the four guest bedrooms. Also housed in the grounds of Premier House is the residence of fellow Clark confidant and Cabinet minister Mark Burton. Known as “the garden shed”, Burton’s house has a valuation of $745,667. Act party leader Richard Prebble is another nearby neighbour.
Premier House is sited at 260 Tinakori Road, a road that takes its miss-spelt name from the time it was built by Maori workers in the 1840s who were refused dinner breaks. Legend has it that the Maori workers helping to build the Road were asked to work through meal breaks to complete a section of the road and one of them protested by calling the road "tina kore" (without dinner) – and the name stuck.
Further down Tinakori Road, at number 123a, is the house of many former Ministers. Its first political resident was the J.A. Millar, the Minister of Labour in Ward's 1906 Cabinet, but its most famous resident was Gordon Coates. Others accommodated here include Helen Clark before her move to Premier House, and now Labour MP Judy Keall.
Number 41 Pipitea Street was for many years the Prime Minister's residence. It was from this unassuming red brick building that Prime Minister Keith Holyoake famously walked each day to work. Later, Prime Ministers Sid Holland, Sir Walter Nash and Sir Geoffrey Palmer lived here, but it was then used as an office for the Pacific Island Affairs Ministry. It has now been returned to a ministerial home, in which Jim Sutton lives. Compared to Premier House, the three-storey Pipitea Street home is neither elegant nor ostentatious and reflects the more modest and down-to-earth approach of former Prime Ministers. The street on which it is located – Pipitea Street – was named after the Maori village that was once located on the waterfront near here.
Some distance from Parliament, in Lower Hutt, Vogel House has also accommodated a number of Prime Ministers since 1965 including Sir Robert Muldoon. Despite its name, Premier Julius Vogel never actually lived here – it was built for his daughter and later gifted to the Crown. Deputy Prime Minister Jim Anderton has now made it his home, and in April 2000 he opened it up to the public, allowing about 12,000 people to walk through the house and the 4.5 hectare garden. Located at 75 Woburn Road, Lower Hutt, the 77-year-old Vogel house has a valuation of $2.4 million, and Mr Anderton plans to refurbish the house at an estimated cost of $400,000. Mr Anderton reports that he has detected that the ghost of Sir Robert still lurking in the house.
Spurning the extravagant size and distance of Vogel House, Labour Prime Minister David Lange made a small flat at number 41 Hill Street [?] the Prime Ministers’ residence in 1985. Sited alongside the Parliamentary Grounds, this small flat [nearly burnt down etc].
Political Monuments
John Ballance
In the grounds of Parliament are two historically significant statues of early New Zealand politicians. In front of the General Assembly Library is a statue of John Ballance, an early eminent Member of Parliament and Premier from 1891 to 1893. In July 1995 the Ballance statue was beheaded, and the slogan “Pakaitore is Maori land” spraypainted on it – in reference to the protest at Moutoa Gardens in Wanganui where another statue of John Ballance was also beheaded.
Richard Seddon Statue and Grave
Richard John Seddon (“King Dick”), the Liberal Premier between 1893 and 1906, stands in front of the Old Parliament Building. New Zealand’s most famous 19th Century leader, Seddon once lived in a house on the corner of the Parliamentary Grounds, at the intersection of Molesworth Street and Hill Street – he could not bear to live further from Parliament than this.
In Thorndon’s historic Bolton Street Cemetery lie a number of early politicians. The most famous is the grave of Richard Seddon, which can be found near the upper boundary of the cemetery, close to Anderson Park.
Grave of Harry Holland
Next to the Seddon memorial is the smaller grave of Harry Holland (1868-1933), the Labour politician who led the party in five successive and unsuccessful elections in the 1920s and 30s. The memorial was unveiled by Michael Joseph Savage in 1937, and has the following inscription engraved upon it: “This monument is dedicated to the memory of Henry Edmund Holland leader of the Labour Party 1919-33: to commemorate his work for Humanity. He devoted his life to free the world from unhappiness, tyranny and oppression.” Unlike the elite memorials erected by the state for leaders such as Seddon and Massey, all the funds for Holland’s grave came from the voluntary contributions of thousands of ordinary people.
The Wakefield Graves
On the lower half of the Cemetery, just beneath the motorway over-bridge, are the graves of Edward Gibbon Wakefield and Colonel William Wakefield, the architects of the New Zealand Company, and who are thus inextricably linked with the founding of the nation. The driving force behind the planned settlement of New Zealand, Edward Gibbon Wakefield conceived of his plan while in prison in England in the 1820s for bankruptcy and attempting to elope with an heiress. His brother [?], Colonel William Wakefield, is widely regarded as the first leader of the Wellington settlement. Outside the Basin Reserve is the Wakefield Memorial, a small Grecian temple built to commemorate the Colonel. Wakefield Street in Te Aro is named after Edward Gibbon Wakefield.
Keith Holyoake Statue
A statue of Keith Jacka Holyoake stands in the small garden in front of the State Services Commission on the corner of Molesworth and Pipitea Streets. “Kiwi Keith” is recognised as one of New Zealand’s foremost prime ministers, serving as Prime Minister for 13 years – the second-longest period of any of them. He also served as a Governor General. Some say that his statue should be based within the Parliamentary Grounds, although the placement is apt, as Holyoake used to live a stone’s throw from here at number 41 Pipitea Street when he was prime minister, and he used to walk regularly past this spot on his way to Parliament.
In May 1998 the 2.5-metre bronze statue had its hands daubed with red paint in an apparent protest against Vietnam War commemorations occurring at the time. Mr Holyoake had been the prime minister who sent New Zealand troops to fight in Vietnam, and the protest suggested that Mr Holyoake had blood on his hands over the war.
Peter Fraser Statue and Grave
The Old Government Building has an interesting statue in front of it of former Labour Prime Minister Peter Fraser. As prime minister from 1940 to 1949, Mr Fraser was one of the most important people to have worked in the building. Particularly representative of both the capital’s politics and weather, the Peter Fraser statue is frozen in mid-stroll leaning radically into the windy Wellington gust. The eight-foot statue was unveiled outside the building’s main entrance in 1990.
Fraser is buried in the Karori Cemetery. In the tradition of other working class leaders, Fraser’s grave is amongst other ordinary people, and has no ostentatious memorial to mark his life.
Grave of Walter Nash
Water Nash is also buried in the Karori Cemetery...
The Carillon
The world’s third largest carillon stands in front of the old National Museum site (which is now Wellington’s Massey University Campus), on Buckle Street. Visible from throughout Te Aro, the tower houses 74 bells, which play daily. It was built in 1932 as a national war memorial.
William Massey Memorial
Just south of Point Halswell on Miramar Peninsular, is the memorial and resting place of William Ferguson Massey, Prime Minister from 1912 to 1925. The large, marble, Greek-influenced memorial is actually identical to the New Zealand War Memorial at Chunuk Bair in Gallipoli. To get there, drive a few minutes past the old air force base at Shelly Bay, where you will find a walking track to the memorial opposite a vehicle layby just south of the point.
The Ataturk Memorial
A memorial to Mustafa Ataturk – a Turkish war general and the first president of modern Turkey – can be found on the eastern point of Palmer Head. The elaborate Ataturk Memorial was established to remember the thousands of Kiwi and Turkish soldiers who fought and died at Gallipoli in World War I.
Statue of Queen Victoria
The Queen Victoria Statue was originally unveiled in Post Office Square, near Queen's Wharf, in 1905. It was moved to Cambridge and Kent terraces just a year later to make way for traffic changes in the Square and has been a prominent feature of the two terraces ever since.
The Kupe Bronze
Recently established on the waterfront, near Te Papa, the bronze neo-Classical statue of Kupe is a re-casting of a 60-year-old statue originally sculpted for New Zealand’s centennial celebrations in 1940. Kupe was a Maori explorer, who is credited within Maori mythology with discovering New Zealand. The seven-metre tall statue shows the Maori explorer in his waka with his wife and a tohunga (priest).
Brooklyn Street Names
Instead of the usual British influence in the street names so evident from the New Zealand Company days, there is a distinct American flavour to the Brooklyn names. Brooklyn was a US president, as were Washington, McKinley, Cleveland, Garfield, Harrison and Lincoln, all of who have streets names after them in this suburb. American states and cities also appear on Brooklyn street signs.
Politics on the Streets
Molesworth Street
This street is named after one of the investors in the New Zealand Company, who was also a radical British MP who led initiatives to stop the transportation of British convicts to Australia in the 19th Century. Molesworth Street has been the site of some significant protests, such as the 1981 anti-Springbok tour march along the street by 2000 protesters. Police stopped the June 29 march by batoning the peaceful protesters soon after they left the Cenotaph intending to march up Molesworth Street en route to the South African Consul’s residence in Wadestown. A month later, on the day of the test match in Wellington, about 10,000 protesters blocked various streets around Athletic Park as well as the Motorway just off the end of Molesworth Street.
The Waterfront
The Wellington waterfront has been the site of two major nationwide industrial disputes this century, in 1913 and 1951. The former was a strike in October 1913 by 1600 wharfies in support of shipwrights’ travelling time allowances. What started out as a matter of principle turned into the worst industrial confrontation in the country's history, with military troops loading ships and the Government enrolling farmers as special mounted police, to discipline the strikers. These special policemen, known as “Massey’s Cossacks”, made a famous baton-swinging charge on 30 October against the workers in Post Office Square opposite Queen’s Wharf. The following month the Army was called out to march through Wellington with fixed bayonets and a machine gun.
The second major waterfront dispute occurred in February 1951 when watersiders banned overtime, both in support of a 40-hour week and after employers refused to pass on a full 5% wage increase, as granted by the Arbitration Court. The Harbour Board instigated a lockout by refusing to let the watersiders on the wharves and a five-month standoff began. Again troops were used to load ships and there was a heavy police presence. Under enormous pressure from the Government the union finally capitulated after being locked out for 151 days. A reminder of the security required in such industrial unrest can be seen in the huge wrought iron gates and cast iron pillars at the entrance to Queen’s Wharf. The gates now provide free public access to Queen's Wharf.
Civic Square
The Civic Centre is surrounded by the Town Hall and City Council offices, the Public Library, Public Relations Office, the Michael Fowler Centre, and the Wellington City Art Gallery. This public space has increasingly been the preferred site of political rallies and meetings, while the surrounding Town Hall and Michael Fowler Centre have been the site of a number of political party annual conferences. And at Easter 1968 the Town Hall hosted 2000 people for the historic “Peace Power and Politics” conference.
Cuba Street
Much of Cuba Street is made up of “Cuba Mall” – the first city mall developed in New Zealand. Originally laid out in 1841, Cuba Street was obviously not named after the communist country, but after the New Zealand Company ship, Cuba, which arrived in Wellington in early 1840. Nonetheless, the street has become one of Wellington’s most political. It now houses Fidel’s café, its signposts bear red stars, it has a new arcade walkway called “Left Bank”, and hosts the anarchist’s Freedom Shop. Midway down the Cuba Street is the Wellington Working Man’s Club, and around the corner on Ghuznee Street, Glover Park is the legacy of a bequeath to the city by Lewis Glover, an early trade unionist. On Saturday mornings various socialist groups often sell their newspapers on the street.
The street was the scene of serious rioting and police-violence during the 1930s depression. After a peaceful political meeting of the unemployed on a vacant section was broken up by an attack by mounted police, thousands of Wellingtonians flocked into the streets to protest this as well as the meaninglessness of the government relief schemes. The following day rioting also broke out in Lambton Quay and many shop windows were broken.
Manners Street
It was in Manners Street that the only [or first?] recorded conflict between United States and New Zealand military personnel occurred. This happened in 1942 [?] – a time when thousands of US military soldiers were stationed in New Zealand…. Following drinking by both nationalities a skirmish erupted…
Te Aro Park (sometimes known as “Pigeon Park”) has been a significant public space in the history of Wellington. In early settler days it was partly occupied by Te Aro Pa, and it was the site of the first religious service in Wellington. A Memorial Stone, marks this occasion with the words: "Close to this spot at Te Aro Pa on Sunday 9th June 1839 a Christian service with the Maoris was conducted by Reverend S. Bumby and Reverend J. Hobbs, Missionaries of the Methodist Church DEDICATED 11th JUNE 1939". Since then, the park has been the departing point for a number of protest marches and rallies. In 1940, anti-war activists were arrested and imprisoned for their propagandising in the park.
In the early 1990s the park underwent a controversial and expensive redesign by Maori contemporary artist Shona Rapira Davies in a project that took two years and more than 20,000 handmade tiles to complete.
Taranaki Street
Manners Street terminates at Taranaki Street, just past the park. Around here stood the Te Aro Pa, occupied by Taranaki people at the time of European arrival. The street is not named after this fact, however, but after the New Zealand Company settlement in Taranaki. During the waterfront strike of 1913, the Taranaki Street entrance to Buckle Street was the scene of some violent clashes between police and strikers when tensions were at their height, and part of the street was cordoned off to strikers.
Petone Wharf
It was at the Petone Wharf that boatloads of arriving settlers learnt that Wellington had established the 40-hour working week. The founder of this innovative industrial regime, Samuel Parnell, would meet every ship arriving in the capital to inform them that life in the new country was going to be a bit better than it was back home. He insisted that in every day there should be eight hours of work, eight hours to sleep and eight hours for rest and recreation. Although the new settlers were enthusiastic about such an idea, they also learnt that rough justice was dealt to anyone who breached the eight hour day – carpenters resolved that anyone caught working outside of the hours of 8am and 5pm would be "dunked in the harbour."
Political Eating and Drinking
The Backbencher
Somewhat of a novelty pub, the Backbencher serves dishes humorously named after politicians, and its décor features an array of satirical latex puppets of politicians, political cartoons and memorabilia. Politicians have frequented the landmark pub since the 1870s, when it was known as the Wellington Hotel. Featuring a fine billiards room, the pub was often known as the "Unofficial Bellamy's" as MPs gathered there to take advantage of its facilities. After a fire in 1920, the present neo-classical, 2-storey building was constructed. The Backbencher can be found on the corner of Molesworth Street and Kate Sheppard Street, opposite the Beehive. The atmosphere is casual and fun. It's open from 11am until late daily.
Thistle Inn
Down the road from the Backbencher, at the other opposite end of Kate Sheppard Street, is the oldest hotel in New Zealand still trading from its original site. Of great historical value, it is also one of Wellington's oldest remaining timber buildings. Established to serve the first settlers in 1840, it almost burned down in 1866 but was then rebuilt with enough of the old building left to preserve some of its original identity. The inn is sited opposite the original public stocks on what was once the Wellington shoreline, and at high tide the sea came right up into the cellars.
In its early days the pub did a roaring trade, staying open 24 hours a day. Te Rauparaha was one of the hotel’s earliest customers and he even had a special seat reserved for himself. According to legend, he would paddle across the harbour and park his canoe at the jetty below, and some even say he was arrested there for bar room brawling. The Thistle Inn has always been a pub for working men, and in its early days its customers comprised early settlers, soldiers, whalers, and sailors. 160 years later, the inn has avoided gentrification and remains as rough as ever.
Wellington Fish Supplies [Now demolished]
[Like the Backbencher next door, this fish and chip shop is popular with politicians and parliamentary workers. The “tin shed” establishment is especially famous because a group of Labour Party leaders became known as the "Fish and Chip Brigade" in the 1980s after developing their plans for government over takeaways from this shop. When Geoffrey Palmer was Prime Minister in the late-1980s he managed to save the shop from demolition for the construction of the High Court next door – an action he claims as his greatest achievement. Sadly, new plans for an apartment building on the site have condemned this landmark and it’s due to be demolished in 2001.]
The Shamrock
On the corner of Tinakori Road and Harriett Street is the Shamrock, which for a long while was one of the grand old pubs of Molesworth Street, before being moved to its present site in 1980. Built in 1878, the pub was known as the Irish Embassy on account of the sizable patronage of people of that nation. It used to be well frequented by politicians and public meetings were regularly held there.
Ministry of Food
A popular eating-place of bureaucrats, the Ministry of Food is located below the Department of Social Welfare on Bowen St.
The Green Parrot
Plotting MPs like Winston Peters and Mike Moore have made Taranaki Street’s small Green Parrot restaurant famous. Coups are planned and inter-party alliances forged over steak and chips at this curiously old-fashioned and down-market establishment. It was opened in 1926 by an American seaman who jumped ship in Wellington. 1932 saw the addition of a new menu and a grill made from a melted down gun barrel – both of which still exist today.
While the Backbencher Pub is mainly a National Party and New Zealand First hangout, the Green Parrot restaurant is a regular Labour Party haunt. Norman Kirk was a regular, as was Mike Moore who famously commiserated there with his supporters after Helen Clark took the Labour Party leadership from him in 1993. Moore loves the place because, it’s “the most politically incorrect restaurant in Wellington.” The Parrot underwent a revival during the heady days of New Zealand First’s time in Government, but these days Labour Party MPs Jonathan Hunt, Phillip Field, and Annette King are the most conspicuous political regulars.
Brava
When the Brava Bar opened in 1996, it instantly scored national publicity when Winston Peters created a scandal by causing a 3am raucous with another client at the same time that post-election coalition-negotiations were being carried out.
Political Institutions
Labour Party Head Office
Under the ambitious party-building programme of one-time Labour Party president Jim Anderton, Fraser House was built in upper Willis Street to accommodate the party’s head office in 198?. However, at the same time that the Labour Party in government was privatising state assets, the extra-parliamentary party was also forced to sell off nearly every floor in the building to stave off bankruptcy.
National Party Headquarters
Also on Willis Street, the National Party headquarters is located in the Willbank Building, above Unity Books…
Business Roundtable Office
On the Terrace…
Trades Hall
The history of old-fashioned trade unionism survives at Trades Hall in Vivian Street. The infamous “Trades Hall Bombing” that killed cleaner Ernie Abbott on 27 March 1984 is one of the few terrorist actions in New Zealand’s political history. A briefcase-bomb left in the foyer of building was detonated by a mercury-device when the part-time cleaner and union delegate picked it up. Unionists believed the bomb was aimed at a Federation of Labour meeting that a local radio station had incorrectly reported was to be held at the Trades Hall. At the time, the bombing was one of the country’s biggest homicide inquiries, but the bomber was never found, and the police file is still open.
The building has been the site of significant meetings and workers rallies, for example the first rally of the Peace and Anti-Conscription Council was held here in 1940, after the Mayor cancelled the group’s booking at the town hall. In the building’s first floor meeting room a large and colourful mural of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels covers the wall.
The Freedom Shop
Anarchists used to sell their anti-statist propaganda etc from their shack-like base at the top of Cuba Street, but that building was moved as part of the 'bypass' construction in 2005. The shop moved to the "Cake Shop" further down Cuba Street and then to the Oblong Internet Cafe in Left Bank (off Cuba Mall).
Press House
Press House at 82 Willis Street houses the capital’s two daily newspapers, the Dominion and Evening Post, and has therefore been the main publisher of political news in New Zealand. The Evening Post, Wellington's first daily paper, was established in 1865, while the Dominion newspaper was founded on the day New Zealand was declared a Dominion, on 26th September 1907. Prior to the arrival of television, Wellington voters used to gather outside Press House on election night where a huge billboard would display the electorate results as they became known.
Home of Compassion Crèche
On the corner of Buckle Street and Cambridge Terrace is the site of New Zealand’s first soup kitchen. St Joseph's Relief Centre was established by Mother Aubert and three of her sisters after they arrived in Wellington in 1899. Completed in 1914 [or 1916?] the current building may also have been the country's first purpose built crèche for children of poor working mothers. It later became the home of St Patrick's College library, and has recently been used as an artist's studio.
First State Housing in New Zealand
Petone’s Patrick Street contains New Zealand’s first state houses, built after the Liberal Government passed the Workers Dwelling Act in 1905 that aimed to house workers cheaply. The Patrick Street houses were constructed in several different designs to avoid an impression of drab uniformity, and they had a number of innovative features such as inside toilets.
[Photos: 19 Patrick Street; 22 Patrick Street]
The First Labour Government’s First State House
The home at 12 Fife Lane in Miramar was the first built under the First Labour Government’s extensive state housing programme administered by the newly formed Department of Housing Construction. The aim was to construct State owned rental houses for those unable to finance a property. Opened by the Michael Joseph Savage in 1937, this house was the first of hundreds of thousands of State houses to be built in New Zealand.
Matiu/Somes Island
Matiu/Somes Island takes its English name from Joseph Somes, a Member of Parliament and deputy-governor of the New Zealand Company. In the early days of European settlement the island was a public reserve, but in 1872 it became a human quarantine area, and during both world wars it was used as a detention centre for about 300 prisoners of war. Prisoners of German, Austrian, Bulgarian and Turkish descent were interned under strong military guard in World War I, while in the Second World War, more than 300 New Zealanders, mostly of German descent but including Italians, Finns and Tongans were locked up here. Discriminated against because of their race, these prisoners greatly resented this treatment, seeing themselves as loyal New Zealanders with families of two or more generations in New Zealand.
State Institutions
Treasury
The most influential and notorious government department, the Treasury, sits opposite the Beehive, at No. 1 The Terrace. It is widely considered that the radical neo-liberal restructuring programme of Rogernomics originated here, as did National’s earlier “Think Big” scheme. Student protests are regularly held outside its front doors.
Reserve Bank
Across the road from Treasury, on the corner of Bowen Street and The Terrace sits the Reserve Bank, where Governor Don Brash controls interest rates and inflation. Despite its technocratic role, the Reserve Bank is seen as politically symbolic, and protesters still vent their anger at the institution. For example, in August 1997 police jostled with 600 protesting students, and batons were drawn to keep students from invading the building.
Department Building
Used for many years as the fictional location of the television satires “Gliding On” and “Market Forces”, Department Building on Stout Street became synonymous with government bureaucracy. Built in 1939 by Fletcher Construction, this building has contained a number of important government departments, and now houses the Directorate of Defence and Intelligence, which occupies six floors, and the Security Intelligence Service, which occupies the two top floors.
Old Government Buildings
The entire civil service of New Zealand once fitted into this magnificent building, which was constructed in 1876 on a square site of 2.2 hectares of reclaimed land. Although originally designed as a stone building, it was built with Kauri timber to imitate a stone-look, and now has the largest floor area of any timber building in the world. After the 1907 Parliament fire, Cabinet met here temporarily, and many different government departments have since used it. After 1993 the building has been restored and the Victoria University Law Faculty is now housed in it. Parts of the ground and first floor of the building are open for public viewing and free public tours are available.
The National Archives
The National Archives can be found at 10 Mulgrave Street in Thorndon. It holds government records from the beginning of British government in New Zealand in 1840. Here you will find a huge collection of national treasures, including photographs, art works, videos, historical documents, maps, and films. In the public Constitutional Room the original Treaty of Waitangi is on display. Other significant founding documents on display in this vault-like room highlight important milestones on the country’s road to independence nationhood. There’s a copy of an extensive 19th Century petition for women’s suffrage as well as various Maori petitions dating back to 1909, which complain broken treaty promises. There are also three exhibition galleries, and a café on the first floor. Entry is free, and it’s open 9am - 5pm on weekdays and 9am – 1pm on Saturdays. Ph 495 6226.
BNZ Building
Founded in 1861, the BNZ is New Zealand’s largest bank. When it was publicly-owned it used to handle all the accounts of the government departments and many of the producer boards. The construction of the BNZ head office at the intersection of Lambton Quay and Willis Street started in 1974, but the contract was plagued by protracted industrial action, and was not completed until 1984. A series of strikes eventually led to the Government deregistering the Boilermakers Union.
The building has recently been renamed, as “www.state.co.nz” but people continue to know it by its original name. The 102-metre high building was the tallest in Wellington until it was overtaken in 1991 by the Majestic Centre.
Government House
Opposite the Basin Reserve in Newtown, Government House is the home of the Queen’s Representative in New Zealand, the Governor General, and is the venue for many formal governmental occasions. The two-storey Tudor-style, mock-Elizabethan mansion is built on the site of the old Mount View Asylum. Completed in 1909, 21 Governor Generals have lived in the vice-regal residence ever since. The Dufferin Street residence has over 20 bedrooms and 17 bathrooms.
Although mostly irrelevant to most Wellingtonians now, its founders had grand aspirations for Government House to represent the political nature and grandeur of a capital city. By building it at the end of the long Kent and Cambridge terraces, it was hoped that the Government House grounds would have a Parisian “Champs Elysees” type approach, and in 1906 the Queen Victoria statue was moved to the area to help create that effect. Likewise, before World War I, soldiers were posted at the main gates and a “Changing of the Guard” ceremony was carried out with the flamboyance of Buckingham Palace. Every morning a small detachment of Guardsmen would march from the Buckle Street Barracks to the gates of Government House to take over from the night duty. Of similar grandeur and aspirations, the lawns of the residence are mown in the strict pattern of the Union Jack.
Wellington Cathedral of St Paul's
New Zealand's largest cathedral is sited opposite the Parliamentary grounds, on the corner of Molesworth Street and Hill Street. The cathedral is a venue for state and civic occasions, arts performances and exhibitions. A number of political marriages and funerals have occurred here, such as….
Embassies
An element that distinguishes any capital city from other locations is the presence of the diplomatic representatives of other countries. They bring an aspect of difference and colour to the city.
Chinese Embassy
The steps outside the Chinese Embassy in Glenmore Street were built to simulate the giant flight of steps outside the Peoples Palace in Beijing. The whole embassy was in fact converted from an apartment building in 1974, and a large two-floored podium around the base of the tower was added for reception rooms. As is the custom with Chinese diplomats, the staff are required to live in the apartments within the embassy building.
Glenmore St
Thorndon
French Embassy
The French Embassy has been the site of a number of anti-nuclear protests in recent years. In June 1995 more than 1000 Wellingtonians marched to the embassy to express their opposition to French nuclear-testing at the South Pacific island of Mururoa.
Manners St
Te Aro
United States Embassy
[detail protests at the embassy]
29 Fitzherbert Terrace, Thorndon
UK High Commission
42 Hill St, Thorndon
Australian High Commission
72-78 Hobson St
Canadian High Commission
61 Moleworth St
34-42 Manners St
German Embassy
90-92 Hobson St
473 6063
[to be continued]