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General.
In the Wellington Harbour Board Year-book issued in December, 1921, there is recorded a list of the piers or jetties, including Brown's, Rhodes's, Moore's, and others, constructed during the early years of settlement, which may be accepted as substantially correct. The following notes are supplementary to those in the Year-book, which were compiled by Mr. Elsdon Best.
The Commercial Wharf, unlike the other early wharves, was constructed by a public company with a capital of £250 in £2 shares. The wharf was completed in December, 1841. It accommodated vessels up to 30 and 40 tons.
A wharf that is not mentioned in the Year-book is Tod's. Tod was a speculator who arrived from Sydney in 1839, and acquired land in the neighbourhood of what is now Charlotte Street. Probably the jetty shown in Brees' illustration of Barrett's Hotel, and next to the Commercial Wharf, is Tod's Wharf.
No. 7, Bowler's Wharf, later named after Edward Pearce, who had taken over Bowler's business, was also known as Lyttelton Wharf. This wharf is described as running from Willis Street to Old Customhouse Quay. It ran out from Willis Street virtually parallel to Customhouse Street (or Old Customhouse Street, as it is now called).
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No. 9, Waitt's Wharf, was not off Willis Street: it stood out from Customhouse Street. Its present location would be through the vacant section opposite the Public Library, owned, I believe, by Burns, Philp, and Co. This wharf (sometimes called Customhouse Wharf) was never public property. It was a frequently changing property, and with the change of ownership there would usually be a change of name. Of course, in those days Farish Street terminated at Customhouse Street. In 1858 the property was advertised for sale by public auction. The frontage, as advertised, was 147 ft. to Customhouse Street, extending to low-water mark. Part of the frontage faced Farish Street. The wharf, of about 200 ft., extended from a platform on which were erected two iron stores. There was a tramway laid on the wharf, with a crane, nearly new. The price obtained was stated to be £1,500, but apparently the sale fell through, for the property was advertised again in a few weeks. No further sale is recorded until 1860, when Waring Taylor purchased it for £800.
David Robertson's Wharf would probably be known earlier as “Seager's.” It, with Greenfield and Stewart's (if there was such a wharf), are of a much later date, and hardly come within the name of “old-timers.”
I have found references to Mills' (Lambton Quay, 1846), Tankersley's (Willis Street, 1847), and Turnbull's (Willis Street, 1862).