Built to impress

This weekend, Wellington celebrates 150 years of being New Zealand’s capital. We take a look back.

 

The land where the Beehive now stands in Wellington was once described as a swampy clay mound, writes Rod Cook in a book produced for Parliament. “Te Puni, who had tried to grow a crop of potatoes on it, declared it was good for nothing.”

TL;DR - things you should know.

• New Zealand has had three capitals - Russell, Auckland, and Wellington
• The decision to move the capital to Wellington was made by a group of Australians
• The cost of moving the capital from Auckland to Wellington in 1865 was about $6 million in today’s money.
• When a fire broke out in 1907, only the Parliamentary Library survived 
• Parliament House was never completed – it is meant to have another wing, and domes on the roof. 
• Parliament is now made up of three buildings – the Library, Parliament House and the Beehive. 

Russell (Ōkiato) in the Bay of Islands held the honour of being the capital from 1840-41, before Governor Hobson moved his seat of power to Auckland.

Hobson was offered land by several Māori chiefs. “The land, some 250 kilometres south of the Bay of Islands on the shores of the Waitematā Harbour, was known as Tāmaki-makau-rau,” writes Stephen Levine for Te Ara. He named the capital Auckland, after his patron Lord Auckland, governor-general of India. 

The first Parliament started with a 21-gun salute on the 24th of May 1854. “Though the day was auspicious – it was Queen Victoria’s birthday – the weather was wet and miserable and the parliamentary building was not yet completed.” The building, hastily finished, was known as the “Shedifice.”

Auckland wasn’t a popular choice, being difficult to get to for MPs from southern parts of the colony. 

It was not easy for South Island members to travel to Auckland for the first meeting of the General Assembly in 1854. Otago members arrived at Lyttelton on 2 April, but they did not leave for Auckland until 11 May. The steamer took 12 days and they reached Auckland the day before Parliament opened. The ship anchored a mile offshore, and the men were forced to wade in their shoes and stockings through mud and stones. Once on dry land, they had to carry their bags along the shore for half a mile before meeting the carriages sent to pick them up.

Throughout the 1850s and early 1860s, there was debate over moving the capital. More people lived in the South Island thanks to the gold boom, so Nelson had a good claim, as did Wellington. Because no one could decide - one vote was carried by just one vote – it was decided an independent commission should be set up.

Three Australian officials were appointed to the commission, and travelled to Wellington and various sites in the north of the South Island, including Picton, Queen Charlotte’s Sound and the Tory Channel, Blenheim, Pelorus Sound, Havelock and Nelson. 

In the end, they picked Wellington, thought to be best because of its superior harbour – especially given most parliamentarians travelled by boat. Some Auckland MPs were unhappy with the decision, and rallied to have Auckland separate from the rest of the country, dashing the hopes of Mainlanders 150 years later. The parliamentary building was incorporated into the University of Auckland, and demolished in 1919.

Wellington welcomed Parliament with a gay social whirl that woke the town out of its torpor.

Meanwhile, in Wellington, the economic boom of being the capital was in full swing - housing was in short supply, carpenters were busy, and the local newspaper expanded to include a parliamentary report. And of course, all those public servants moved in. 

“Public records and about 80 cases of library books were sent by the SS Queen in late March 1865 and arrived safely in Wellington.” The total cost of the move, including the Australian Commissioners was £54,665, – the bulk of which was for the purchase and extensions to the Parliament Buildings. That’s about $6 million dollars now. A bargain. 

Wellington was keen not only for the economic benefits and the political status the seat of government brought, but also for its enlivening of the elite’s social season. Wellington welcomed Parliament with a gay social whirl that woke the town out of its torpor. Not only were a circus and other entertainment acts in town but balls soon added to the festive atmosphere.

Even the original buildings were a bit cramped, having been designed for 50 MPs, rather than the 57 who turned up in Wellington. The original building grew throughout the next 50 years. In 1899, a fire-proof library was built; something there had been calls for since the move from Auckland. 

In 1907, Parliament’s nightwatchman thought he heard rain on the roof. It was, in fact, a fire. “By sunrise, the fire had destroyed the buildings and many national treasures. Even Bellamy’s restaurant and the Lobby, Parliament’s social hub, were gone. Only the library remained.”

Parliament had to move across the road to the then Government House for several years. 

In 1911, a design competition was announced for the new Parliament building, and the stone was laid in 1912. Construction was delayed by lack of material (especially once World War One commenced). Eventually, cost and politics meant only the first stage was ever completed, giving the building its asymmetrical look. 

As the population grew, so too did the government and by 1962 Cabinet had decided to consult on extending Parliament’s buildings. The story goes that the architect, Basil Spence, originally drew a sketch for the Beehive on a napkin and handed it to the then Prime Minister.

The Executive Wing, as it’s properly called, was finally finished in 1981. Both the Parliamentary Library and Parliament House have heritage status – the Beehive does not. Now, Parliament leases Bowen House, as it needs even more space for MPs and their staff,

Even as recently as 1997, some people wanted the Parliament House finished to its original plan and thus the Beehive moved. “Property investor Bob Jones suggested,” reported the Evening Post “during the committee's hearings that the "grotesquely tasteless" Beehive had to be demolished to make way for the old Parliament Buildings.”

The Minister leading the Cabinet building proposal, Don McKinnon, told the committee that if MPs had their first wish, most would opt to get rid of the Beehive and complete Parliament Buildings. It had never really been seen as a goer, though he noted he had seen bigger buildings than the Beehive shifted in Russia.

For Parliament’s education coordinator Miranda Thomson working in the buildings that make up Parliament means walking through history every day. She points to the grand, ornate, entrance to the Parliamentary Library. “And of course, that was the main way into Parliament....So for instance, when World War One was announced then the Governor, Lord Liverpool, comes out onto the front steps of the library, and there would have been a crowd of about 15,000 people in the grounds of Parliament.”

“Because we’re a new country,” she says, “that’s an old building for us.”

The Beehive has its own charms - she points out that to some, the lifts in the core of the building bear a striking resemblance to the Ministry of Magic. (No word on who is a muggle and who isn’t, though.)

At the time it was built, she thinks, it was probably considered quite radical - even with the original 1960s orange and brown carpet. “It was built to impress.”

“When you go into Parliament House, you’re going into a slightly different era. It’s very much built of its time ... I feel the buildings are kind of like a journey in time through our Parliament. We don’t have the original wooden buildings here anymore, but certainly if you start with the library, and then work your way through, you get a sense that we’ve had Parliament for a period of a time.” 

This weekend, Wellington will open its doors to the buildings that make up the capital. The Big Birthday Party, will be a two-hour celebration with Dave Dobbyn performing alongside the Orpheus Choir, followed by a video-mapping experience, as projectors play with the architecture of Parliament House while telling the Wellington story.

A 20-minute light and sound show will be repeated on the hour and half-hour from 5pm to 9pm on the Sunday and Monday evenings. There will also be a tea party in the grounds of Parliament and a chance to view the nation’s treasures during the weekend. You can find out more from the Wellington City Council and Parliament. 

 This content was made for The Wireless with funding from Parliament.