A neglected founding story

Sarah Mathew, a little-heralded pioneer woman, did more to cement Auckland’s position as the country’s capital than she is given credit for, says Tessa Duder.

- Tessa Duder

 

Who doesn’t love a good founding story? Whether a corporation, school or spectacular event, there was initially someone with grand dreams: Suzie Moncrieff dreaming up WOW, the World of WearableArt, or the young Woolf Fisher and Maurice Paykel (and their dads) starting in the 1930s as importers of washing machines before manufacturing their own.

Our cities are harder to pin down to a single visionary. Granted, Wellington has the Wakefields and the 1840 arrival of the ship Aurora, and the South Island’s cities were visited by whalers in the 1830s before the immigrant ships arrived.

What about our biggest city? Ah, yes, you nod confidently, Auckland’s Anniversary Day is celebrated in late January with a public holiday and a regatta. You might add, if you know a bit of history, it was enshrined in law in 1842 to commemorate the arrival in the Bay of Islands in January 1840 of New Zealand’s first Governor, William Hobson.