Illustrated London news :Banquet given at Wellington to native chiefs. [Pipitea Street, 1849, from a drawing by Mr J. H. Marriott. London, 1850]

Looking along the length of a large table with another to the right, with diners, and towards Dr Fitzgerald at the head of the table raising his hand as he speaks. The majority of the diners are European males, and two Maori chiefs in cloaks stand in the left foreground, with others seated at the right-hand table. There is a portrait of Queen Victoria on the wall above the speaker, with a pair of crossed swords on the wall below it. Greenery decorates other walls and the sides of windows. Another painting is above a fireplace on the left

From a drawing by J. H. Marriott, who may also have been responsible for some of the decoration for the occasion, as he had been a month earlier at a reform banquet, also illustrated in the Illustrated London news.

The event took place on 17 April 1849 'for the purpose of doing honour to the portrait of the Queen, which had been presented by Earl Grey to the Colonial Hospital at Wellington' (corner Pipitea and Moturoa Streets). See Ward, Louis. Early Wellington, p.286. The event took place in the house of Dr Fitzgerald, next-door to the hospital according to an article in the Wellington Independent, 25 April 1849, p. 3. Dr Fitzgerald was in the chair, with Mr Henry St Hill as vice-chair. Octavius Hadfield was also present, along with Te Puni, Wi Tako and a large group of other Maori men, all listed in the article. The room 'was most tastefully decorated by Mr Wilkinson with native evergreens and flowers'.

Quantity: 1 b&w art print(s).

Physical Description: Wood engraving, 150 x 230 mm