The Town of Petre, on the Wanganui River…

C.19th view of the New Zealand Company settlement at Whanganui (then called Petre), in 1841.

The lithograph was based on the drawing by William Mein Smith (1799-1869), the first New Zealand Company surveyor general. The first name of the European settlement was Petre, after Lord Petre.

The view shows the new settlement soon just after its establishment. The thatched roofing of a house is being completed by two men in the foreground and men are hauling timber for other buildings along the foreshore and from a small boat at the river’s edge. Fences divide off other houses and the nearest house on the far left, middle distance is identified as Dr Peter Wilson’s house, the building being thatched is the Police Office and Police Magistrate’s house, a larger one is Mr E. J. Wakefield’s house (ware Wikitoria), and two other are Mr. Henry Churton’s houses. The large cliff across the river is Shakespeare’s Cliff. Wakefield, E. J.,  Adventure in New Zealand. London 1845.

Collections:
National Library New Zealand: ALMA 993950933502836
State Library New South Wales: Call Numbers Q997/12A2
National Library Australia: Bib ID: 1787884
University of Queensland: b27926874