New Zealand - Wellington - Looking along Wills Street from Customhouse Quay, cars, trams, buildings and stores - 21/9/1922 - Unknown Photographer - Originally published in "The Auckland Weekly News" #336348 Wellington - Legends recount that Kupe discovered and explored the district in about the 10th century. - The earliest date with hard evidence for Maori living in New Zealand is about 1280. - European settlement began with the arrival of an advance party of the New Zealand Company on the ship Tory on 20 September 1839, followed by 150 settlers on the Aurora on 22 January 1840. - The settlers constructed their first homes at Petone (which they called Britannia for a time) on the flat area at the mouth of the Hutt River. - In 1865, Wellington became the capital city in place of Auckland, which William Hobson had made the capital in 1841. Willis Street - Located at the heart of the central business district of Wellington - One of the four 'quarters' of downtown