Wellington Harbour is hemmed in by hills of ancient greywacke, which makes up the mountainous backbone of the North Island. Christopher Aubrey’s 1889 watercolour shows the rapidly expanding city, about 50 years after Europeans started to settle there. The boundary between the hills and the harbour (upper left) marks the position of the Wellington Fault. The hills are rising, but the water-covered area is gradually subsiding.
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Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference:
C-030-025
Watercolour by Christopher Aubrey
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.
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