Nelson: the trailblazer of the South

Media Release

The Ministry for Culture and Heritage

27th August 2010

Nelson: the trailblazer of the South

The Nelson region is well known for its dynamic arts scene, glorious weather and alternative lifestylers, but it’s also home to some of New Zealand’s key moments in history.

The new Nelson pages in Te Ara – New Zealand’s online encyclopedia – share the stories and history of this diverse area. During extensive research, months of fact checking and labour intensive writing, Carl Walrond has overseen the completion of the wide-ranging Nelson entry spanning from Delaware Bay to the Spenser Mountains to Farewell Spit. He’s been surprised at how many important historical “firsts” have taken place in the sunny region.

“In 1642 the first contact between Maori and Europeans occurred at Golden Bay between local iwi and Dutch explorers led by Abel Tasman,” says Carl Walrond, “That encounter was not the best start in race relations with four Dutch killed but it is perhaps not surprising considering they couldn’t understand each other. But there are more positive firsts – the Dun Mountain line was New Zealand’s first railway, Ernest Rutherford New Zealand’s first Nobel Prize winner and Nelson College the first state secondary school. Nelson has produced more Prime Ministers per head of population than any other region.”

The list continues when in 1870 Nelson hosted a sporting match that shaped this nation’s identity – New Zealand’s first ever rugby game was played on Nelson soil between the Nelson Football Club (the country’s first football club) and Nelson College. Twenty-eight years before that (perhaps showing foresight) New Zealand’s first hops were planted in Nelson in 1842. More than a hundred years later in 1981 McCashin’s Brewery in Stoke brewed its first batch of beer from locally grown hops. This small brewery kicked off an explosion of boutique beer makers who now enjoy success here and abroad.

Jock Phillips, General Editor of Te Ara feels the new Nelson pages will boost interest in the region, and delight locals seeking to know more about where they live, “The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, Te Ara website is a widely accessed resource for comprehensive and reliable information about New Zealand, its people, places and history. The Nelson entry is an invaluable resource for schoolchildren, their parents, those interested in the region, and local and international visitors to Nelson.”

Other interesting facts:

• The Nelson cave spider (Spelungula cavernicola) is New Zealand’s largest native spider in terms of leg span, which can be up to 13 centimetres.
• The Buller River is New Zealand’s largest unmodified river system – and the ancestral Buller River actually flowed northwards into Tasman Bay.
• The largest species of native land snail is Powelliphanta superba prouseorum, which measures about 90 mm across and is found in Kahurangi National Park.
• Nelson is not only one of the sunniest cities, but has some of the calmest weather in the country.
• Mt Owen has New Zealand’s longest cave, Bulmer Cavern, explored to over 50 kilometres in length. Mt Arthur has the deepest.

Te Ara Nelson will be launched by local MP Hon Nick Smith, Minister for the Environment at the Suter Gallery, Nelson at 5.30pm on 7th September, on behalf of the Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, Hon Christopher Finlayson.

Media are invited to attend the function, and interviews are available beforehand with Carl Walrond, the author, and Dr Jock Phillips, General Editor of Te Ara, Ministry for Culture and Heritage.

If you’re keen to know more about the region’s diverse people, history, horticulture, arts and geography then the new Te Ara Nelson pages will be available on www.teara.govt.nz from the 7th of September.

ENDS