page_title: Capital of New Zealand
section_title: Auckland
hierarchical_section_title: Capital of New Zealand / Auckland
caption_attribution_description: English: Auckland Government House in Auckland City, New Zealand. Auckland was the seat of New Zealand's national government from 1841 to 1865. This is the third Government House to exist in Auckland alone, later to become part of the University of Auckland campus. Extended information on origin webpage reads: Government House, Auckland [ca 1860s-1870s] / Reference number: 1/2-105456-F 1 b&amp;w copy negative(s). Film negative. Horizontal image. / Part of Gilberd, Edward Browse, 1904-1991&#160;:Photographs of Auckland PAColl-8549) Photographic Archive / Scope and contents: Government House, Auckland, taken ca 1860-1870s by an unidentified photographer.
context_page_description: Wellington has been the capital of New Zealand since 1865. New Zealand's first capital city was Old Russell in 1840–41. Auckland was the second capital from 1841 until 1865, when Parliament was permanently moved to Wellington after an argument that persisted for a decade. As the members of parliament could not agree on the location of a more central capital, Wellington was decided on by three Australian commissioners.
context_section_description: There is no doubt that Hobson regarded Russell as a temporary capital only. On 18 April 1840, he sent Mathew on a second journey south; the Surveyor General was instructed to explore the harbours of Whangarei, Mahurangi, and Waitematā, and to pay particular attention to a location on the southern shore of the Waitematā. Mathew spent two months exploring the various locations and rejected Whangarei and Mahurangi, but also rejected the site favoured by Hobson that later became known as Hobsonville. In his words, it was "totally unfit for the site of the principal settlement, and indeed ill adapted for a settlement at all". Mathew recommended the Panmure Basin for the settlement, which had numerous advantages, but he conceded that access from the harbour was difficult.
  Once Hobson had regained some health, he went south to check Mathew's recommendations. On 6 July, he visited Panmure and immediately dismissed it over the difficult access by water. Hobson also admitted that his favoured location was impractical. After the party watched a sunset and were impressed by a "lovely aspect of the shore further down the harbour in the golden glow of the late afternoon", they went ashore there the following day. They agreed that the place held great promise for a future capital; it is believed that they landed at Shelly Beach in Ponsonby. By the end of the month, the decision was made that the capital would shift to the Waitematā.
  On 13 September 1840, a barque left Russell for the Waitematā. On board were seven Government officials, some cabin passengers, and numerous steerage passenger. The party, under the command of Symonds, was to finalise the choice of the future capital, buy the land off the Maori, erect stores and accommodation buildings, and find a site for Government House. On 18 September, the land (some 3,000 acres or 1,200 hectares) had been chosen and an agreement signed with Āpihai Te Kawau and others representing the Ngāti Whātua iwi. A flagstaff was erected on Point Britomart, and Her Majesty's health was "most rapturously drunk with cheers long and loud". Sarah Mathews, the wife of the Surveyor General, recorded in her diary that the name "Auckland" was inscribed in the flag pole, together with the date of the land purchase. This may be regarded as the unofficial naming of the city, as the name was first put in writing by Hobson on 10 November of that year. George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland was First Lord of the Admiralty. In 1834, he had given a commission to William Hobson to sail for the East Indies on the Rattlesnake, which ended a six-year period without a command and on half pay. Whilst the name was bestowed in gratitude, it certainly met with general approval, as Lord Auckland was at the height of his fame in 1840 after he had been appointed Viceroy of India in 1835. Queen Victoria's approval of Auckland as the name for the settlement was published in the New Zealand Gazette on 26 November 1842.
  Work progressed well in Auckland. Hobson first visited Auckland on 17 October 1840 to check on progress, and decide on the location for Government House. He returned to the Bay of Islands, having decided to take up residence in Auckland in the following year. Government House was a kit set built in England and shipped out to New Zealand, weighing 250 tonnes (250 long tons; 280 short tons). It had 16 rooms, was 120 feet (37 m) long, 50 feet (15 m) wide, and 24 feet (7.3 m) high. It was placed on the corner of Hobson and Cook Streets. The officials and all of government's papers were moved from the Bay of Islands to Auckland in January 1841. Hobson moved into his new residence on 14 March 1841, and with him moving in, the capital had shifted from the Bay of Islands to Auckland.
  The first Supreme Court in New Zealand was built in 1842 on the corner of Queen Street and Victoria Street West. The court was presided over by Justice Martin.
  On 23 June 1848, Government House burned down during Sir George Grey's tenure as Governor. Nobody came to harm but the building was a total loss. A viceregal residence was then rented for 
caption: Auckland's third Government House, shown here in the 1860s or 1870s, is today known as Old Government House
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