Heaphy, Charles 1820-1881 :View of Port Nicholson from the summit of the range bordering the valley of the Hutt to the westward [1840]

A hill with fern and low scrub in the foreground, with a view across the bush-covered Hutt Valley and Petone to the Wainuiomata Hills, with the Harbour, Somes Island and four immigrant ships, the harbour entrance and Miramar Peninsula. There are houses built by the first European settlers on the beach, possibly along with the buildings of Petone Pa, although the latter are indistinguishable from the settlers' houses. The Pa may be hidden from sight by a low rise to the right.

Original drawing for a lithograph in E. J . Wakefield's "Illustrations to Adventure in New Zealand" (London, 1845) Plate 3, with title "Port Nicholson from the hills above Pitone in 1840". The lithograph includes in its foreground a Maori woman gathering crops or food and three pigs.

The ships shown are probably the first four immigrant ships to arrive in Wellington, the Aurora, the Oriental, the Duke of Roxburgh and the Bengal Merchant. The ships arrived between 22 January and 28 February 1840.

Other Titles - Petone

Inscriptions: Recto - beneath image - title, signature, and "Portfolio D" [the latter inscribed by staff of the New Zealand Company in London.; Recto - top centre - No. 55. New Zealand Company Mar 23 1842 [the latter a stamp indicating the date the drawing was received by the New Zealand Company in London].

Quantity: 1 drawing(s).

Physical Description: Pen drawing 233 x 369 mm

Provenance: Drawn for the New Zealand Company and sent to London. Purchased by Alexander Turnbull with other New Zealand Company material in 1915.