Places

Date: 1843

From: Wakefield, Edward Jerningham 1820-1879 :Illustrations to "Adventure in New Zealand". Lithographed from original drawings taken on the spot by Mrs Wicksteed, Miss King, Mrs Fox, Mr John Saxton, Mr Charles Heaphy, Mr S. C. Brees and Captain W. Mein Smith. London, Smith Elder & Co, 1845.

By: Brees, Samuel Charles, 1810?-1865

Reference: PUBL-0011-08

Description: An extensive view of the Wairarapa Plain with Wairarapa Lake on the left, Rimutaka Range and Tararua Ranges in the background ("the snowy rnage in the distance is the Tararua Mountains"), a wild boar hunt in the foreground, with 5 Maori, 3 Pakeha men and four dogs and a bivouac noted on the plain to the right. Bracken and tree ferns in the foreground and clumps of bush on the plain. The accompanying text reads: This district lies about fifty miles from Wellington by the nearest road. Mr Charles Kettle, one of the Company's Assistant-Surveyors, ascended the Manawatu River, which flows along the other side of the Tararua Mountains, and entered this plain by rounding the low spurs at the extreme right of the view. The forest consists of the largest trees. The open tracts are covered with grass, feern and tutu bushes. Wild hogs abound in this plain. The Ruamahanga flows through the midst of it, and passes through Lake Wairarapa into Palliser Bay. The plain of the Ruamahanga is about sixty miles in length, with an average breadth of twelve miles. There is one small native village at its northern extremity, and another on the beach at Palliser Bay, as well as a whaling station supplied from Wellington. Lake Wairarapa is ten miles long, and from two to three miles broad. Between the lake and the sea several settlers from Wellington have recently squatted with large herds of cattle, which they drove along the sea-coast. Quantity: 1 colour art print(s). Physical Description: Lithograph, hand-coloured, in 3 sections 238 x 460 mm + 495 mm + 460 mm