Nelson City Council

Memorial Project at Wakefield Quay

The Wakefield Quay promenade was Nelson's official Millennium 2000 project.

Improvements ahead for waterfront

The Wakefield Quay waterfront area has come a long way in the past few years. The Quay is now home to fashionable apartments, fine dining establishments and attractive public spaces, including the Early Settlers Memorial, which commemorates the arrival by ship of Nelson’s earliest European settlers in the 1840s.

A new sculpture, ‘Navigator’, by Tim Wraight, was installed earlier this year, near the Early Settlers wall. The next twelve months will see more improvements to the waterfront – work starts soon on a new plaza and promenade between the Sea Rescue headquarters and the Crop and Food Research building, and boat ramp and yacht rigging area improvements, approved as part of this year’s Annual Plan. Interpretive panels will detail area’s history and explore natural features such as the Boulder Bank.

Your chance to ‘sign’ a plaque

Since the unveiling in February of the Early Settlers Memorial Wall – a 24-metre granite slab mounted with plaques engraved with more than five thousand names of European settlers who arrived in the 1840s, beginning with the Fifeshire in 1842 – hundreds of visitors have enjoyed browsing the memorial, looking for names of family and friends. About 700 sponsors have pitched in $250 each to help fund the project, supporting the generous donations raised by the Nelson 2000 Trust.

Deadline for sponsors 1 October 2008

If you’d like to sponsor a settler, with a 30 character memorial message of your choice set in stone alongside the settler’s name, forms and information are available from Jenny Black, +64 3 548 7662, or Judy Cunningham at MP Nick Smith’s office in Nelson +64 3 547 2314.

Memorial Wall unveiled

4 February 2008

The Early Settlers' Memorial Wall on the Wakefield Quay promenade was officially unveiled on Nelson Anniversary Day 2008. Plaques were attached to the top of the stone wall next to the Early Settlers' statue that record the 235 ships and 5,500 pioneer migrants who arrived in Nelson between 1841 and 1850.

The Memorial Wall will continue to grow as each plaque has been designed to be removed and have more sponsors' names added if more families come forward wishing to be involved in the project.

For more information on becoming a sponsor, contact Judy on +64 3 547 2314.

The Purpose of the Trust

The Nelson 2000 Trust was formed in September 2000 with the aim of creating a public space on the Nelson waterfront to open the splendid vista over Nelson haven and the harbour entrance, beautifying the foreshore and providing a delightful recreational amenity with landscaping and planting, seating, lighting effects and over-sea boardwalks.

Interpretative panels and a descriptive trail depicting the historic aspects and natural features of the area are being planned.

The functions of the Trust are:

• To be a vehicle for public and community fundraising to advance Wakefield Quay developments
• To advocate and facilitate cooperative participation of the original parties and the community to achieve successful development of Wakefield Quay.

The Trust Members

The Trust consists of Nelson MP Nick Smith, Nelson lawyer Nick Moore, property developer Doug McKee, Nelson City Councillor Alan Turley, Rotarians Roger Nicholson and Jenny Black, Nelson radio host Kent Robertson and long time Nelson advocate Addo Mulders. Secretarial support for the Trust is provided by Tracey Stratford.

The original parties to the Wakefield Quay development were the Nelson City Council, Transit New Zealand, Nelson Port Company, Guyton's Fisheries, Hurricane Wire site owner and developer, and the Crop & Food Research Institute.

Progress on our plans

The 2000 Trust is in the process of providing additional car parks to serve the Wakefield Quay area. The historic stone wall, built by convicts in the 1860s, has been restored and enhanced; the addition of the Early Settlers memorial plaques will be a popular attraction.

Other features include a shelter pavilion - currently in place - providing shade during the summer months; rest and recreation areas; separately-funded commercial tourism activities; plus a fish processing plant and retail seafood shop, a restaurant and a take away food shop.

Contributions to the costs

The whole project, including the commercial developments and land purchase, will cost about $3 million dollars. The Community Trust has made a grant of $237,000, the Nelson City Council has provided the land and a further $260,000 toward the project, while Port Nelson Ltd has also made major contributions. The remaining funds continue to be raised by grants and public donations.

Become a sponsor

The Trust welcomes enquiries from businesses and individuals who want to sponsor features of the Wakefield Quay development.

Nelson 2000 Trust

c/- 544 Waimea Road
Nelson, New Zealand
64 3 547 2314