Centre of New Zealand - Botanical Hill

Climbing to the Centre of New Zealand – it’s regular exercise for Nelsonians, and a must do for visitors.

But is it really the Centre of New Zealand - and how did this title originate?

The Botanic Reserve was set aside in the early days of the Nelson settlement, with a band rotunda, and a playing field that in 1874 was the site of the first rugby game in New Zealand. The Centre of New Zealand story has its origins just three years later when the hill was used as a survey point. In the early days of European settlement in New Zealand, each province had its own government and independent surveyors made isolated surveys of their own region. In the 1870s the decision was made to connect these surveys.

John Spence Browning, the Chief Surveyor for the Nelson Land District, began the job in Nelson and extended the survey south to the West Coast. Later it was connected up to surveys from Canterbury. Using the triangulation method to take the geodetic survey, Browning took the easily accessible Zig Zag track to the summit of the Botanical Hill and made this the starting point for the apex of his first set of triangles. The base-line for the triangle was laid out in what is now Rutherford Street.

Siting the first trig station on the Botanical Hill led to the rumour that this spot was selected because it was the actual centre of New Zealand. The truth lies somewhere to the south… in the 1960s the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research conducted a gravity survey over the three main islands of New Zealand. This locates the centre of New Zealand in the Spooner Range – the hill you drive over when leaving Nelson for Murchison. The Nelson Jaycees put the marker on the top of the Centre of New Zealand in 1968 and there are now panels with information on the surrounding landmarks.

The Centre of New Zealand is the site of the Lantern Celebration, a popular event held every year just before Christmas, heralding the opening of the Nelson Summer Festival.