Marlborough Provincial Gazette

Also known as

  • The Government Gazette, Province of Marlborough
  • New Zealand Government Gazette (Province of Marlborough)

Historical Background

Marlborough Province was created under the New Provinces Act 1858 by separation from Nelson Province, taking effect on 1 November 1859. The region had originally been part of New Munster under the 1846 constitutional arrangement, before passing to Nelson Province when the six original provinces were established in 1853.

The province was named by Governor Sir Thomas Gore Browne after John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough — following the same pattern as Nelson and Wellington, named for prominent British military figures. The settlement of Blenheim was subsequently named after the Duke's famous victory at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704.

Separation from Nelson had been driven by ongoing disputes between settlers in the Wairau and the more distant Nelson administration. The region had been an early centre of pastoral farming — Frederick Weld had been the first to land sheep at Port Underwood in 1847, and other South Island areas were subsequently stocked from Marlborough.

The location of the provincial capital was a matter of prolonged debate. The council sat initially at Picton before relocating to Blenheim in 1865, following a council vote that included a notable ten-hour speech by councillor Arthur Beauchamp — grandfather of writer Katherine Mansfield — in opposition to the move. In a fitting postscript, government buildings in both towns burned down shortly after the abolition of the provincial system.

Provincial government was abolished under the Abolition of Provinces Act, which took full effect on 1 November 1876.

Issue and page numbers

  • Marlborough Gazette issue numbers for 1860-61 are continuous, and again from 1862-1875. Numbering does not restart in January each year.
  • Page numbers are (usually) continuous between issues and restart each year in January.

Missing Issues

Year Issue No Notes Page numbers
1876 All issues

Skipped Issue Numbers

It appears some issue numbers were skipped or omitted

Year Issue No Notes
1869 192 No missing page numbers - possibly never printed

Issue No. 176 (6 Jan 1869) was misprinted as No. 175.

Map of provincial boundaries, 1873

1873 Province boundaries (from Wikipedia)

Further reading

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marlborough_Province

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provinces_of_New_Zealand

https://teara.govt.nz/en/colonial-and-provincial-government/page-2

Browse by Year

1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869
1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875

The Marlborough Provincial Council used two modest buildings in Blenheim (depicted) as their council chambers.

Source



Marlborough Provincial Gazette Statistics

16

Years Covered

297

Issues Processed

1,339

Pages Transcribed

5,954

Names Identified

2,924

Unique Names

2,330

Named Officials

305

Unique Officials