Nelson City Council

When the land wars broke out in Taranaki in the 1860s, Nelson was a flourishing settlement. As well as sending troops to Taranaki, we welcomed refugees who decided to shift to Nelson - including the Atkinsons, who built Fairfield House, and artist John Gully. Money was left over from a loan set up to help refugees. In 1891 this fund was used to buy Trafalgar Park . The park was to be held upon trust "for use for ever for such purposes of athletic sports and other recreations as to it [the Council] may seem proper and convenient". There was also an endowment from Nelson benefactor Thomas Cawthron that was used to add more land in 1892.

Trafalgar Park had been used for cricket as early as the 1880s, with other sports added over the years. From the 1920s, land was reclaimed on either side of the Maitai. As this area grew, Rutherford Park came into use for croquet, tennis, hockey and soccer. Over eight hectares of Rutherford Park is reclaimed land and it sits barely two metres above the high tide line.

Australia by 10 wickets in Nelson in the early 1940s

Nelson has a long history of cricket, with the first game recorded in the March 16 1844 edition of the Nelson Examiner newspaper. A Nelson XI played the Surveyors (not at Trafalgar Park ) for the prize of a dinner, and both teams were reported to have retired to the 'Carpenters' Arms' to spend the evening 'in a right merry fashion.'

An Australian cricket tour just before World War II drew a big crowd to the game against a local XI at Trafalgar Park. The Mayor declared a half day holiday and extra trains were laid on to bring in the country fans. After a night of heavy rain, the game began at 2.30pm on a wicket described as 'in fair order though on the heavy side' in the the Colonist newspaper. The Australians were declared at tea time on the second day of play, winners by just ten wickets against the provincial side. (Info from the Colonial Album series, supplied to the Nelson Mail by the Nelson Provincial Museum in 1987).

Royal visit in 1954

Plenty of 'baby boomers' around Nelson remember a big day in their primary school years, when they went to Trafalgar Park to see the Queen. The visit from Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip in 1954 was Nelson's first from a reigning monarch. The programme stated:

'Sat, Jan 16: Some thousands of children will assemble at Park by 11am and will be entertained there during the day. Procession of Decorated Floats, leaving Tahunanui 10.30am for Trafalgar Park. Procession then followed by children through the town. Children returning afterwards to the Park.'

In the evening, the park was crowded with spectators for displays from marching girls, axmen, Scottish dancers, bands and the sword club.

Heritage notes

Listed features around the park include the old fire station building in Halifax Street (now a real estate office), and the large Pin Oak growing between the croquet lawns and Halifax Street is listed and protected as a 'Landscape' tree.

Grandstands installed

An upgrade to Trafalgar Park that increased the seating capacity to more than 2,600 was completed in February 2008. Two new grandstands were built on either side of the Trafalgar pavilion that feature covered seating for 1,360 seats.