PARK, Robert (1812-1870) — Wellington
Surveyor, artist and lithographer. Produced Plan of Wades Town adjoining the city of Wellington, New Zealand, the property of Messrs. Watt & Wade, laid out in building lots 1841 — lithographed by Thomas Bluett; Plan of the town of Nelson, New Zealand 1842; Mr. G. Young’s claim, Wellington (ms) 1843; Map of Rangitiki Block on Cook’s Straits. Made partly from actual survey (ms); Survey of Waipukurau (ms) 1852; Map of district between Nelson Haven and Cloudy Bay (ms) 1859; Plan of the town of Ashburton 1863, etc. Also lithographed a view of the village of Richmond captioned “The first lithograph executed in Wellington in the year 1842”.
Born in Glasgow in October 1812, the son of Matthew Park and his wife Catherine Laing. He was brother to Patric Park (1811-1855), the sculptor. He married (1) Mary Anne Morgan (d.1848) at Bristol 8 Aug 1837, (2) Terenui (d.1850), daughter of Te Rangiahuta and Te Angiotau, and (3) Marion Hart (1822-1891). He is said to have trained under Isambard Kingdom Brunel as an engineer and arrived at Port Nicholson on the Cuba in 1839 with the surveying staff of the New Zealand Company. In 1842 he was appointed town surveyor to Wellington and in 1850 government surveyor to the whole of the Wellington District. By 1858 he held freeholds in Bolton Street and Oriental Terrace. After standing unsuccessfully for parliament, he moved to Canterbury, farming at Winchmore in winter, and surveying for the provincial government in summer. He died 10 Mar 1870 at Cranmer Square, Christchurch, and was buried at Addington Cemetery.
Wellington — 1842
Wellington Terrace, Wellington — 1844-1849
Kumutoto Street, Port Nicholson — 1850-1852
Winchmore Station, Ashburton — 1868
NA. NLNZ. Tooley.