Author(s): Jeanette Richardson

NZ History

This is a major work that gives an account of the first capital of New Zealand which was at Okiato in the Bay of Islands. This is a little told part of New Zealand history. As a taster, the first paragraphs say... The Dream The sun breaks through the cloud on an overcast day, sending shafts of light and liveliness onto a green grassy expanse on a sentinel hill at Okiato in the Bay of Islands. One shaft of light picks out the glint of a button, probably fallen into the grass from the uniform of a soldier who had come here, from faraway, to do his duty. Maybe he belonged to the 80th Regiment who camped at the hill in the halcyon times when the site was the centre of the nation and all eyes were, expectantly, upon it. Maybe, just maybe, hidden in the grass, its steely glint survived the mysterious fire of 1842… Okiato was the site where the first capital of New Zealand was established and the country was run from there following the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi on 6 February 1840 at Waitangi. Okiato had the first government house and the first established bureaucratic headquarters. It was also the personal home of the Lieutenant Governor and his family. This book is the historical account of the formation and times of the first capital of New Zealand, and it is full of intrigue, drama and suspense