Title: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Wellington Provincial District]

Author: Cyclopedia Company Limited

Publication details: The Cyclopedia Company, Limited, 1897, Wellington

Part of: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand

License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 New Zealand Licence

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Mr. John Plimmer, often styled the “Father of Wellington,” has for over fifty years been a prominent man. He was born in Shropshire on the 28th of June, 1812, and had seen nothing of the sea or ships prior to his leaving England, but he had had an experience of bush work in the forest of Dean, an ancient royal forest in the West of Gloucestershire, and in the Bewdley forest, Worcestershire; and this was a fair apprenticeship for colonial life. His father was a builder and timber merchant, and the son had learned that business also. This knowledge was primarily useful to Mr. Plimmer himself, but there is no doubt that it was of very great advantage to the early settlers of Port Nicholson. When Mr. Plimmer arrived per ship “Gertrude,” in 1841, the township of Wellington looked better on paper than in reality. Fifty years after his arrival he celebrated his jubilee as a colonist by publishing his reminiscences in the New Zealand Mail, and these he kindly placed at the disposal of the compilers of the Cyclopedia, who have made copious extracts therefrom in their description of “Old Wellington.” Landing at Kaiwarra and unable during the first day to get all his goods into safe keeping, Mr. Plimmer had an experience with the Maoris more novel than agreeable, and the next day disclosed the unwelcome fact that several of his things had been stolen during the night, including a 2001b. sack of biscuits, a very serious loss in those days of scarcity. His first “house” was in Te Aro, a “wood collier's cabin,” without floor, the imported feather beds resting on a substratum of ti-tree bushes, Here he and his family lived in moderate comfort for about a year, during which time he had been preparing a more permanent establishment, and cutting, sawing, and splitting timber into boards, slabs, posts, rails, shingles, etc. He then turned his knowledge of lime burning to good account, doing exceedingly well for several years in that line of business, but the earthquake of 1848 put a temporary check on the demand for lime, and Mr. Plimmer then turned his attention once more to the building of wooden houses. Speaking of this change in the letters to the Mail, Mr. Plimmer says: “At that time I rebuilt a great many of the houses which had been shaken down, and some new ones, but in wood, as the people were afraid to live in brick houses. In 1850, however, something happened which quite changed my occupation. An American ship was wrecked in the harbour. She had struck on the rocks at the entrance, and was leaking very badly, so the captain ran her on the Te Aro shore, and she was sold to a shipbuilder for a small sum. I gave the shipbuilder £80 for the hull, on condition that he would deliver her opposite Barrett's Hotel; and I asked Sir George Grey, who was then Governor, to allow me to put her there and to make a wharf, to which he consented. But when the merchants, who were all located on Te Aro shore, learned what I was about to do with the ship, they pressed the man not to deliver her, but as I had paid him part of the money, he could not decline, so made the excuse that he page 292 was unable to get her off the beach; and thinking I could not do it he agreed to allow £10 off the price if I would take it where it was.” After an anxious time, the vessel being kept afloat by pumping for five days and nights in a stiff south-easter, she was securely hauled up into a place which had been carefully prepared to receive her, on the spot where the splendid building of the National Mutual Life Association now stands. “All the people passing,” says Mr. Plimmer, “came to lend a hand, and in Barrett's Hotel she was christened ‘Noah's Ark,’ which name she retained throughout her existence. She was a good sound ship of 650 tons, and her name was ‘Inconstant’ When I had got her upright, I cut off the upper works level, and, having propped her up well, built a large building over the hull, sixty-eight feet by thirty feet, which took both time and money, but it answered my purpose very well, and the Government allowed me to make a bonded store of the lower part; and, as it was the best wharf in the harbour until the Queen's wharf was built, I made money by my speculation.” Less than twenty years ago, “Noah's Ark” was one of the sights of the city, with a wide street and a row of buildings on the shore end of her. The writer remembers her well, but, like many others, had no correct idea of how she came there. Like other properties in the town, “Noah's Ark” suffered from the earthquakes of 1855. The props were loosened, and the ship was thrown over on her bilge, and some hundreds of tons of goods all thrown in a heap on the side. To put all right was a work of delay and difficulty, but Mr. Plimmer was not the man to be discouraged by trifles. His own narrow escape, referred to in connection with the earthquakes under heading “Old Wellington,” convinced him that matters might have been worse. He successfully replaced and repaired his “Noah's Ark,” and continued his prosperous course. Since then he has erected a large number of buildings, many of which he still owns; and he has taken a most enterprising interest in all that concerns the development of Wellington. When the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company was projected, Mr. Plimmer, who had long before retired from active commerce, made one to canvass the town and country for the sale of shares, setting the example by planking down a fine round sum himself. He has been a director of the Company since its inception, and one of the towns on the line (Plimmerton) has been named in his nonour. The picture given herewith is an excellent likeness of the old gentleman. His kindly face is familiar to thousands, who will join heartily in the cry, “long live John Plimmer.”