Dicky Barrett's hotel

Dicky Barrett's hotel

'I have…returned to Port Nicholson and built a large hotel. One of the most splendid buildings in the place known by the name of Barrett's Hotel.'

Richard Barrett to his brother, 6 November 1841. MS-Papers-1183, Manuscripts Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library.

Richard (Dicky) Barrett (?-1847) came to New Zealand in 1828 as a trader and became a warrior, whaler and Thorndon's first pub keeper.

Barrett became associated with Te Āti Awa and fought along side them against Waikato invaders in Taranaki in 1831-1832. Although Te Āti Awa won the encounter they made the decision to move south. Barrett and his wife Wakaiwa Rawinia, the sister of Te Ati Āwa leader Te Wharepouri, accompanied them. Barrett established a whaling station at Queen Charlotte Sound and in 1839 was employed by William Wakefield as a translator during the New Zealand Company negotiations to buy land.

In gratitude, the Company gave Barrett a bonus to establish Barrett's Hotel, the building with smoking chimneys shown in this engraving. The hotel, a prefabricated house sent from England, was built in 1840 on Lambton Quay, below the present site of Parliament. It became the centre of social life, political gatherings and business negotiations for the early settlement. In April 1840 a dinner to celebrate the new colony was held there; that July settlers gathered to receive their land allocations, and in October the hotel hosted a meeting in support of the eight hour day.

Barrett, suffering from losses in his whaling business, gave up the hotel in 1841 and returned to Taranaki. At the time this lithograph was made the hotel's proprietor was Charles Suisted. The name Barrett's Hotel continued for nearly 150 years in another building at the opposite end of Lambton Quay.

Dicky Barrett biography – Dictionary of New Zealand Biography

Te Wharepouri biography – Dictionary of New Zealand Biography

Permission of the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga a Aotearoa must be obtained before any reuse of this image.

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