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Burgess Roll (1843)
This list of Wellington's citizenry gives a clear indication of the variety of professions amongst the first settlers of Port Nicholson, as well as the prominence of printers in the early social and labour structures. Each printer was involved in one form or another with the newspaper press in Wellington, an often volatile and politically charged form of print communication. In April 1845, after the Spectator had been hijacked by the competition from underneath Edward Roe's nose, these printers clubbed together and founded a rival organ, the Wellington Independent .
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.