Wellington
Wellington[b] is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand,[c] and is the administrative centre of the Wellington Region. It is the world's southernmost capital of a sovereign state.[14] Wellington features a temperate maritime climate, and is the world's windiest city by average wind speed.[15]
This article is about the capital of New Zealand. For the British statesman the city was named after, see Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. For other uses, see Wellington (disambiguation).
Wellington
Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Māori)
1839
Laurie Foon[6]
289.91 km2 (111.93 sq mi)
112.36 km2 (43.38 sq mi)
177.55 km2 (68.55 sq mi)
303.00 km2 (116.99 sq mi)
495 m (1,624 ft)
0 m (0 ft)
215,200
1,900/km2 (5,000/sq mi)
440,900
1,500/km2 (3,800/sq mi)
Wellingtonian
NZ$ 44.987 billion (2021)
NZ$ 82,772 (2021)
UTC+13 (NZDT)
04
Māori oral tradition tells that Kupe discovered and explored the region in about the 10th century. The area was initially settled by Māori iwi such as Rangitāne and Muaūpoko. The disruptions of the Musket Wars led to them being overwhelmed by northern iwi such as Te Āti Awa by the early 19th century.[16]
Wellington's current form was originally designed by Captain William Mein Smith, the first Surveyor General for Edward Wakefield's New Zealand Company, in 1840.[17] Smith's plan included a series of interconnected grid plans, expanding along valleys and lower hill slopes.[18] The Wellington urban area, which only includes urbanised areas within Wellington City, has a population of 215,200 as of June 2023.[9] The wider Wellington metropolitan area, including the cities of Lower Hutt, Porirua and Upper Hutt, has a population of 440,900 as of June 2023.[9] The city has served as New Zealand's capital since 1865, a status that is not defined in legislation, but established by convention; the New Zealand Government and Parliament, the Supreme Court and most of the public service are based in the city.[19]
Wellington's economy is primarily service-based, with an emphasis on finance, business services, government, and the film industry. It is the centre of New Zealand's film and special effects industries, and increasingly a hub for information technology and innovation,[20] with two public research universities. Wellington is one of New Zealand's chief seaports and serves both domestic and international shipping. The city is chiefly served by Wellington International Airport in Rongotai, the country's second-busiest airport. Wellington's transport network includes train and bus lines which reach as far as the Kāpiti Coast and the Wairarapa, and ferries connect the city to the South Island.
Often referred to as New Zealand's cultural capital, the culture of Wellington is a diverse and often youth-driven one which has wielded influence across Oceania.[21][22][23] One of the world's most liveable cities, the 2021 Global Livability Ranking tied Wellington with Tokyo as fourth in the world.[24] From 2017 to 2018, Deutsche Bank ranked it first in the world for both livability and non-pollution.[25][26] Cultural precincts such as Cuba Street and Newtown are renowned for creative innovation, "op shops", historic character, and food. Wellington is a leading financial centre in the Asia-Pacific region, being ranked 35th in the world by the Global Financial Centres Index for 2021. The global city has grown from a bustling Māori settlement, to a colonial outpost, and from there to an Australasian capital that has experienced a "remarkable creative resurgence".[27][28][29][30]
Wellington takes its name from Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington and victor of the Battle of Waterloo (1815): his title comes from the town of Wellington in the English county of Somerset. It was named in November 1840 by the original settlers of the New Zealand Company on the suggestion of the directors of the same, in recognition of the Duke's strong support for the company's principles of colonisation and his "strenuous and successful defence against its enemies of the measure for colonising South Australia". One of the founders of the settlement, Edward Jerningham Wakefield, reported that the settlers "took up the views of the directors with great cordiality and the new name was at once adopted".[31]
In the Māori language, Wellington has three names:
In New Zealand Sign Language, the name is signed by raising the index, middle, and ring fingers of one hand, palm forward, to form a "W", and shaking it slightly from side to side twice.[40]
The city's location close to the mouth of the narrow Cook Strait leaves it vulnerable to strong gales, leading to the nickname of "Windy Wellington".[41]
Te Auaha, venue and performing arts school, Wellington
Te Whaea, venue and home to the New Zealand School of Dance and Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School
BATS Theatre foyer
Circa Theatre
The Opera House (interior)
The Hannah Playhouse
Wellington is the home to:
Sporting events include:
Infrastructure[edit]
Electric power[edit]
Wellington's first public electricity supply was established in 1904, alongside the introduction of electric trams, and was originally supplied at 105 volts 80 hertz. The conversion to the now-standard 230/400 volts 50 hertz began in 1925, the same year the city was connected to the Mangahao hydroelectric scheme. Between 1924 and 1968, the city's supply was supplemented by a coal-fired power station at Evans Bay.[177]
Today, Wellington city is supplied from four Transpower substations: Takapu Road, Kaiwharawhara, Wilton, and Central Park (Mount Cook). Wellington Electricity owns and operates the local distribution network.
The city is home to two large wind farms, West Wind and Mill Creek, which combined contribute up to 213 MW of electricity to the city and the national grid.
While Wellington experiences regular strong winds, and only 63% of Wellington Electricity's network is underground, the city has a very reliable power supply. In the year to March 2018, Wellington Electricity disclosed the average customer spent just 55 minutes without power due to unplanned outages.[178]
Natural gas[edit]
Wellington was one of the original nine towns and cities in New Zealand to be supplied with natural gas when the Kapuni gas field entered production in 1970, and a 260-kilometre-long (160 mi) high-pressure pipeline from the field in Taranaki to the city was completed. The high-pressure transmission pipelines supplying Wellington are now owned and operated by First Gas, with Powerco owning and operating the medium- and low-pressure distribution pipelines within the urban area.[179]
Media[edit]
Radio[edit]
Wellington is served by 26 full-power radio stations: 17 on FM, four on AM, and five on both FM and AM.
Television[edit]
Television broadcasts began in Wellington on 1 July 1961 with the launch of channel WNTV1, becoming the third New Zealand city (after Auckland and Christchurch) to receive regular television broadcasts. WNTV1's main studios were in Waring Taylor Street in central Wellington and broadcast from a transmitter atop Mount Victoria. In 1967, the Mount Victoria transmitter was replaced with a more powerful transmitter at Mount Kaukau.[188] In November 1969, WNTV1 was networked with its counterpart stations in Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin to form NZBC TV.
In 1975, the NZBC was broken up, with Wellington and Dunedin studios taking over NZBC TV as Television One while Auckland and Christchurch studios launched Television Two. At the same time, the Wellington studios moved to the new purpose-built Avalon Television Centre in Lower Hutt. In 1980, Televisions One and Two merged under a single company, Television New Zealand (TVNZ). The majority of television production moved to Auckland over the 1980s, culminating in the opening of TVNZ's new Auckland television centre in 1989.
Today, digital terrestrial television (Freeview) is available in the city, transmitting from Mount Kaukau plus three infill transmitters at Baxters Knob, Fitzherbert, and Haywards.[189]
Wellington has sister city relationships with the following cities:[190]
Wellington is also a “friendly city” with Ramallah, Palestine, and a 2023 council vote means both are expected to be sister cities in the future.[191][192] Wellington also has historical ties with Chania, Greece; Harrogate, England; and Çanakkale, Turkey.[193]