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3 unusual facts about William Hobson


Constantine Phipps, 1st Marquess of Normanby

While Colonial Secretary, he wrote a letter of instructions to William Hobson, in which the government's policy for the sovereignty of New Zealand was set out.

William Hobson

After obtaining signatures at the Bay of Islands, he travelled to Waitemata Harbour to obtain more signatures and survey a suitable location for a new capital (he also sent the Deputy Surveyor-General, William Cornwallis Symonds, to other areas to obtain more signatures).

During the next three months, Hobson and his officers thoroughly surveyed Port Phillip, the northern portion of which, by direction of Governor Sir Richard Bourke, was named Hobson's Bay, after him.


Willoughby Shortland

In 1839 he accompanied Captain William Hobson, the first governor of New Zealand, to that colony, which had not then been annexed by England.


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