Mary Taylor and early Wellington Nw. Zealand

Mr. Waring Taylor and his sister Mary, who lived in Cuba Street in a house on the site of Te Aro House, which is now (1928) being altered came out in the early forties. Mary wrote from Wellington to her great friend Charlotte Bronte, on the 10th April, 1849, to state that she had written an account of the earthquake of 1848 for “Chambers Journal.” She also wrote: “I am working at my novel.”—This novel
entitled “Miss Miles, or a Tale of Yorkshire Life Sixty Years Ago,” was finished in 1890. Miss Taylor was credited with being the first person in Wellington to import and use a sewing machine. This machine later passed into the possession of the family of Mr. David Kinniburg, who was her next door neighbour.

Again writing from Wellington on the 24th July, 1849, Miss Taylor states: “Dear Charlotte,—About a month since, I have received and read ‘Jane Eyre.’ It seemed to me incredible that you had actually written a book. Such events did not happen while I was in England. After I had read it I went on to the top of Mount Victoria and looked for a ship to carry a letter to you. There was a little thing with one mast, and also H.M.S. “Fly” and nothing else. If a cattle vessel came from Sydney she would take a mail, but we had east wind for a month and nothing can come in. Aug. 1st: The Harlequin has just come from Otago.… Your novel surprised me by being so perfect as a work of art.…”

Te Aro, 1857 (approx.). Showing Rhodes' wharf and residence (Cuba Street, North), Kebbell's mill (site of Grand Opera House). Maori Chapel (Rosenbergs Cycle Shop), Wesleyan Chapel, opposite Bethune and Hunters' cattle yard (Regent Theatre), Te Aro Pa and swamps in the distance.

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overlooking Wellington city, [ca 1877]

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