1840's

Print hit the New Zealand Company's settlement of Wellington as soon as the first ships docked in 1840. Samuel Revans, a peripatetic newspaperman, merchant, and political agitator, landed his press on the beach at Petone and immediately began the important business of colonial communication and information exchange. Rival newspapers were established and Wellington soon boasted a strong print economy. The Burgess Roll lists several of these players: George Fellingham, Thomas McKenzie, James William Muir, Edward Roe (snr and jnr), William Edward Vincent. In addition to these weekly, then daily, organs of commerce and culture, printing houses were responsible for broadsheets, pamphlets, tickets, and various other forms of ephemera. They were frequently the clearinghouse for imported books and stationery. Gradually, too, they spearheaded the printing of New Zealand's first domestically produced books. All the words - fit to print.