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Zeitblick |
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City, My City |
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Historic Wellington - A city is made up of many things; its people of course, its buildings, its landmarks and it boundaries. Most of all however a city constitutes (is constituted by its streets) its streets, the skeleton on which the body of the city is formed. Many cities are an expansion of an existing settlement, village or township while others, such as Wellington, are built from scratch. The original plans of Wellington (initially to be known as Britannia) were drawn up in London with little or no knowledge of the topography or(of) the land surrounding Port Nicholson. Locations were identified, streets named and the fledgling city crammed into what little flat land was available on the southern shores of the harbour. Most of those street names remain today, of course, and the original routes they took are, in the main, unchanged. This next series of stories for Zeitblick looks at the history behind some of the key (?) Wellington, how they came into being, why they were named and changes that have occurred to them over the last 170 years. Series 5, Part 2 A Street Named Featherston - The history of Dr IE Featherston and a street named for him As is common in many cities around the world many of the streets of Wellington are named for those who have had a significant impact on the formation of this city. Several streets bear the names of members of the New Zealand Company, our founding fathers if you will, while others carry the names of local merchants or citizens of renown and still others are named for their location. “Customhouse Quay”, for instance, was named because this was where the early port customs building was located. Featherston Street is named for Dr IE Featherston, an early settler and one whose impact on and contribution to Wellington city, Wellington Province and New Zealand as a whole. His contribution to the people and the social and political development of New Zealand is recognised in a street and a township named “Featherston”. ---> A Street Named Featherston © Peter Wells, Wellington, New Zealand |
