Thorndon in 1859

Thorndon in 1859

The photograph shown here was taken in about 1859, making it one of the earliest known photographs of Thorndon. It was taken at the harbour end of Hobson Street, and looks south towards Mt Victoria. At this time Thorndon was a settlement of scattered weatherboard cottages and roughly formed streets.

The photograph is part of an album assembled by John Coutts Crawford (1817-1889), a Scottish settler who came to New Zealand in 1839. Crawford owned land at Miramar but lived in Thorndon. Crawford's second wife, Jessie Cruickshank Crawford, can be seen in the photograph: the man standing next to her is government surveyor Robert Park.

Crawford served the government as a geologist, explorer and resident magistrate and was active in civic and scholarly organisations. Photography was one of his many interests, and he was a member of the Photographic Society of Scotland. Crawford photographed a number of notable Thorndon residents, including Charles Abraham, the first bishop of Wellington, and naturalist Walter Mantell.

The letters, diaries and photographs of the Crawford family held in the Alexander Turnbull Library give a vivid picture of friendship, social life and the physical conditions of Thorndon in the 1860s.

JC Crawford 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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