Commonwealth Walkway

Built in 1910, Government House serves as the official residence for New Zealand’s Governor-General, the official representative of the Queen. It’s also a home away from home for members of the Royal Family, Heads of State, and other distinguished guests visiting Wellington.

The house has eight guest suites, a self-contained apartment for the Governor-General and his/her spouse and family, as well as a ballroom, conservatory, sitting rooms, service rooms and kitchens, and a wing of offices. The house has a floor area of about 4,200 square metres.

More than 10,000 people visit Government House every year as guests of one or more of the many functions held there. 

The estate covers 12 hectares with a gatehouse at the main gate, other buildings and facilities include a tennis court and pavilion, a small swimming pool, a World War II-era bomb shelter, a squash court, and garages.

It’s also significant as a former Māori site known as Kaipapa, and as the site of the Mt View Lunatic Asylum from 1873-1910.

Find out more about Government House tours

Fondly known today as the spiritual home of New Zealand cricket, originally the Basin Reserve was a shallow lake set to be joined by canal to Wellington Harbour and used as a marina.

A massive earthquake in 1855 raised the area 1.8 metres, transforming the lake into a swamp. After a few years, suggestions started coming from locals that the area would be a perfect spot for a cricket ground, and the Council agreed.

In 1863, prisoners from the nearby Mount Cook Gaol set to work draining the land and New Zealand’s premier cricket ground was born.

Over the years, the Basin Reserve has been host to sporting events from competitive wood chopping to athletics, and of course that most Commonwealth of pursuits, cricket. A quintessentially Wellington tradition is the emptying out of offices on the Friday afternoon as the capital’s citizens enjoy the first day of a test cricket match at the Basin Reserve.

As one of the few large areas of unoccupied flat land in the city, the Basin Reserve is also a popular venue for large events like music concerts and civic occasions.

Today the Basin Reserve is one of the world’s top cricket grounds and is also the home to the NZ Cricket Museum

Pukeahu National War Memorial Park is New Zealand's place of remembrance for those who have served us, both in peace and conflict throughout our history. The National War Memorial was built in 1932, when its tall Carillon tower was highly visible across the capital.

The original intent was to create a boulevard to link Courtenay Place, however this never eventuated. Instead of a boulevard, the area remained home to schools, homes and businesses.

In 2015, Pukeahu National War Memorial Park was completed, diverting the highway underground into Arras Tunnel and creating a quiet, reflective setting for the memorial. The park has also provided a way of commemorating some of New Zealand's less well-known conflicts and a suitable place for the memorials of our Commonwealth allies and the memorials of other nations.

Find out more about the Pukeahu National War Memorial Park.

On the southwest corner of Pukeahu National War Memorial Park is a memorial to the prisoners from Parihaka, a Māori settlement in the province of Taranaki, who were held at the now demolished Mount Cook Gaol on their way to prisons in the South Island.

Parihaka was the centre of a major campaign of non-violent resistance to European occupation of confiscated land in the area led by prophets Te Whiti-o-Rongomai and Tohu Kākahi. In 1881, 1600 government troops raided the settlement, but were met by hundreds of skipping and singing children offering them food.

The main stone of the memorial is symbolic of a prisoner wrapped in a blanket, with a bowed head. Stones were gathered from streams in Taranaki to form the base and represent the prisoners held in Wellington. The white pebble stones inset into the paving refer to the lost genealogy of the men taken who died in the prisons. The spiral also symbolises the journey the prisoners took from Taranaki to the South Island.

Find out more about the Parihaka Memorial.

The Holocaust Centre of New Zealand provides a moving experience which tells the stories of the survivors and victims of Nazi persecution who came to New Zealand.

The displays focus on the Holocaust and New Zealand, illuminating Jewish life before and after the Holocaust, New Zealand responses to the Holocaust and Jewish refugees, the experience of the Holocaust told through the stories of New Zealand Holocaust survivors, powerful video testimonies of Holocaust survivors telling their stories, a library of Holocaust literature and texts, and exhibitions on Holocaust survivors.

The Holocaust Centre of New Zealand is open daily from 10am to 1pm except Saturdays.

Wellington’s oldest original cottage is home to the story of the Wallis Family who lived there for three generations.

The cottage is now preserved as a museum, revealing a new exhibition experience that has undergone extensive research to present the lives and events of Wellington's history.

The exhibition features an innovative timeline, revealing what life would have been like from 1830-1970. It illustrates the ways in which the first colonial settlers blended their culture from their Victorian homeland with the constraints of a new country.

Nairn Street Cottage is open every day in summer, and on Saturday and Sunday during winter.

Admission includes a tour of the clapboard cottage and the charming heritage gardens, where the story of these early settlers and their descendants is brought to life. Tours are available at 12pm, 1pm, 2pm and 3pm.

The highest point on the Commonwealth Walkway offers a seat to relax for a few minutes and enjoy an expansive view north to Wellington, the sparkling harbour and the surrounding mountain ranges. It also pays homage to one of Wellington’s most celebrated and influential arts families.

Peter Harcourt, who died in 1995, was well known in theatre and broadcasting circles, and the son of Gordon Harcourt who established one of New Zealand’s earliest private radio stations. His wife, Dame Kate Harcourt, has been a professional actor since the 1960s and their children followed in their footsteps with Miranda Harcourt a well-known actor and Gordon Harcourt a TV personality.

Find out more about Peter Harcourt

Standing like a skeletal sentinel beside State Highway 1, Karo Drive is Subject to Change, a large sculpture that reflects the special architecture of the upper Cuba Street area and communities who dwelled among them.

The major urban highway development had been on the drawing board since the 1960’s, finally completed in 2007 after years of controversy and protest. Because this area has been ‘subject to change’, property investment and development has affected it less than in surrounding areas, and the buildings of upper Cuba St became a kind of time capsule.

The cheap rent became a haven for the capital’s creative communities who made homes in the sometimes poorly-maintained buildings, but with the finality of the completion of Karo Drive there has been a return of investment and many of the buildings have been earthquake strengthened and refurbished.

For more information, see: Subject to Change – Regan Gentry

One of the most iconic pieces of public art in Wellington is the Bucket Fountain, located in the heart of the culturally-diverse and celebrated Cuba Mall.

Erected in 1969, and designed by Burren and Keen, the Bucket Fountain consists of a series of "buckets" that fill with water until they tip, spilling their load into the buckets and pool below – and on members of the public who stand too close on a windy day!

Renowned as possessing some of the finest acoustic qualities for a concert venue of its type in the world, the Wellington Town Hall has had an interesting history since its foundation stone was laid in 1901.

Originally the building had a tall tower and faced Cuba Street. The Wakefield St and Civic Square facades were side elevations, hence the unusual composition of the porticos, and the street level of Civic Square was much lower.

The ornate clock tower was removed in 1934 as an earthquake precaution, and in 1980 the Michael Fowler Center was built to replace it. A public outcry saw that the Town Hall was never demolished, a sentiment that remains strong to this day with questions over the building’s earthquake strength.

The Town Hall has hosted many notable events. On one occasion, it was reported that during a Kenny Rogers concert in 1973, when sound levels reached a crescendo the stage ceiling collapsed on the band, dropping pigeon bodies, empty and dead eggs, nesting material and plaster rubble and dust all over the stage and the band's equipment – but the show did carry on!

The Wellington Town Hall was fully refurbished between 1991-92, however the building is currently closed to the public for earthquake strengthening.

Civic Square is the formal reception room of Wellington. Originally this was a continuation of Mercer Street down to its intersection with Cuba Street, but in the early 1990's the street closed and Civic Square was built.

The Wellington Central Library (the wavy glass building) is New Zealand's largest and busiest public library – so busy that it receives more visitors per year than Te Papa.

The City to Sea Bridge joins Civic Square to the Wellington Waterfront, functioning as a bridge as much as an elevated extension to the square. Fronting the south side of the square are the Michael Fowler Center, Town Hall and Wellington City Council buildings.

Located in Civic Square, the Wellington i-SITE Visitor Information Centre provides comprehensive travel advice and information on tours, accommodation, and activities in Wellington. They also provide event and ticketing services and can make travel arrangements for all New Zealand destinations.

For opening hours, see the i-Site Visitor Centre page.

The Old Bank Arcade is an impressive historic building at the gateway of Lambton Quay, one of the main streets of Wellington.

Completed in 1901, the building was designed by Thomas Turnbull, a notable New Zealand architect. It’s located on the site of the remnants of the ship Inconstant, which became Plimmer's Ark, a very early store owned by prominent Wellingtonian John Plimmer around the 1850’s. You can view the remnants in the basement of the Old Bank Arcade

In 2012, the Cable Car celebrated 110 years of service to the city of Wellington. A favourite of locals and visitors alike, the Cable Car allows easy access from its terminal on Lambton Quay in the CBD to the top entrance of the Botanic Garden and the Kelburn lookout – offering stunning views of Wellington.

Three intermediate stops allow access to local residential and business addresses, and at Salamanca it’s a short walk to the Kelburn campus of Victoria University.

The terminus at Kelburn is adjacent to the Cable Car Museum (free entry) which houses two of the original cable cars. A level two minute walk in the gardens takes you to the Carter Observatory and Planetarium, and a free shuttle operates regularly from outside the Cable Car museum to Zealandia.

The Kelburn Village is only a five minute walk away, and the Botanic Garden has a number of interesting downhill walks which take you back to the city centre in 40 minutes.

A recent addition to the trip is a LED light show on permanent display through the tunnels. 

Find out more about the Wellington Cable Car

Situated on the northwest corner of the popular Midland Park, 'Woman of Words' is a sculpture commemorating the life and work of Wellingtonian, and New Zealand’s most internationally recognised literary figure, Katherine Mansfield.

'Woman of Words' is a contemporary sculpture; a three metre high stainless steel figure depicting Katherine Mansfield striding along the Quay. The entire surface of the sculpture is laser cut with words and phrases from her writing, presenting information about Mansfield the writer, the woman and her New Zealand childhood.  You can visit her birthplace at 25 Tinakori Road, Thorndon.

During the day the sculpture reflects the movement, colours and ambience of the surrounding area. At night, 'Woman of Words' becomes an illuminated lantern.

Woman of Words - Wellington Sculpture Trust

Artist Kedron Parker’s soundscape installation has transformed a humble underpass at the top of Woodward Street, into a poignant reminder of the birdlife that once flourished in what is now a largely concrete urban environment.

Originally a temporary installation which was made permanent, Kumutoto Stream samples sounds of local birds and running streams to imagine the area in its natural state, before development.

Once you travel through the underpass from Woodward Street, turn right up the stairs to The Terrace and head north. An accessibility ramp continues west from the underpass.

Find out more about the Kumutoto Stream Soundscape

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand was established in 1934 and is responsible for our monetary policy and issuing the currency. During this time period, the bank’s work has changed from pounds, shillings and pence to electronic transfer of dollars. This story is told in the Reserve Bank Museum.

As well as the expected bank notes, the Museum also contains a MONIAC computer – a pioneering invention which uses water and salvaged Lancaster Bomber parts to model monetary policy's effect on the economy. The Museum also provides insight into more contemporary issues such as how we as a country weather global financial pressures.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand Museum is open from 9.30am to 4pm Monday to Friday, closed weekends, and public holidays.

The focus of Anzac Day commemorations for the capital, the Cenotaph was inaugurated 25 April 1931 and features a mounted figure called The Will to Peace, described as 'Pegasus spurning underfoot the victor's spoils of war and rising into the heavens, enables his rider to emerge from the deluge of blood and tears, and to receive the great spiritual assurance of peace'.

Previously a somewhat unconnected sculptural island near a busy intersection, in time for the centenary commemorations for World War 1 in 2013, a partnership between the Wellington City Council and central government developed a new staircase and water feature leading up to the Parliament Buildings. The works also included repairs to the cenotaph surface materials and creation of a square to create a ceremonial space.

A new in-ground artwork by Joe Sheehan leads pedestrians across the plaza, along the path of Waipiro Stream (now underground), with pieces of jade laid into the paving. The artwork includes the sound of flowing water from speakers set in the ground.

The site of the laying of the first ceremonial Commonwealth Walkway roundel is a prominent position in front of the Parliament Buildings in central Wellington. Wai-Titi Landing was originally a beach and tauranga (a resting place for waka) used by Te Ātiawa/Taranaki whānau before 1840.

It was also a main entry point to the Pipitea Kumutoto area. The land takes its name from a stream which ran between the two pā of Kumutoto and Pipitea. 

At the centre of the park are two pou whenua (traditional tribal boundary markers), symbolising upturned waka. Designed by Te Atiawa sculptor Ra Vincent, the pou whenua were gifted to the City of Wellington by Wellington Tenths Trust on behalf of the Te Ātiawa/Taranaki whānau and represent an expression of the enduring Treaty partnership between Te Ātiawa/Taranaki whānau and the City of Wellington.

A kōwhai design on the inner surfaces of the pou whenua represents the wairua, the spirit of the land, while carved figures represent the people of the land.

Find out more about the Wai-Titi Landing.

During the 1960's the acute office accommodation shortages for Members of Parliament led to an urge to complete the executive wing of Parliament House.

After much debate, the beehive design of Sir Basil Spence was chosen and completed in 1981. The distinctive Beehive building was built in stages between 1969 and 1979.

Being circular, the building is quite unusual, featuring a curved ballroom, custom built curved furniture and a particularly disorienting lift core. The elegant, though somewhat impractical building, has not been immune to modern considerations, now featuring an extension out the front to allow for a new security entrance and a new, bomb-proof mail delivery room built at the rear of the building.

The top floor is occupied by the Cabinet Room, with the Prime Minister's office on the ninth floor. The building also features a subterranean emergency management centre. Daily tours are available, find out more about The Beehive.

Established in 1965, the National Library of New Zealand was formed when the Alexander Turnbull Library, the General Assembly Library, and the National Library Service were brought together by the National Library Act.

The National Library collects, preserves, and protects the documentary heritage of New Zealand and from overseas, aids in the work of other libraries, and collaborates with other institutions that form the international library community.

The Reading Rooms are open 10am to 5pm from Monday to Saturday.

Old St Paul’s is a Wellington landmark, heritage building, and popular function venue.

It was built by the Anglican Church between 1865 and 1866 on what was originally the site of Pipitea Pā, a Māori settlement on Wellington’s waterfront.

As well as being one of the best examples of Gothic Revival architecture in the world, the former cathedral is a repository of many interesting stories, including that of its own survival. Having served the Anglican community up to the 1960’s, it was threatened with demolition after the new St Paul’s was built one block away on Molesworth Street.

Saved, restored and reopened to the public, today Old St Paul’s stands not only as a place of spiritual significance and a venue for special events (including weddings, funerals and concerts), but also as a reminder of one of New Zealand's great heritage battles.

Old St Paul’s is open daily but closed Christmas Day, Good Friday and for short periods during private functions.

Te Kāinga is the Pipitea Marae – a home away from home.  Wellington’s traditional urban marae is in the heart of the city and at the heart of local Māori culture.

Pipitea Marae opened on 31 May 1980 to meet the needs of the urban Māori population of Wellington known as Ngāti Poneke, and as a place where traditional kawa and protocol are observed. Ngāti Poneke (a transliteration of Port Nicholson, the old name for Wellington) began as a city youth club in the 1930’s and was encouraged by Sir Āpirana Ngata and Lady Pōmare.

In 2009, the marae site vested in the iwi mana whenua entity Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust, and together with the Ngāti Poneke Māori Association Inc, created a partnership called the Pipitea Marae Charitable Trust. Pipitea Marae continues to signify a place for people of all iwi and races to meet.

Find out more about the history of Pipitea Marae

Since 2007, the bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi has stood outside the bustling lawn that forms the entrance to the Wellington Railway Station, celebrating the capital’s commitment to peace and cultural diversity.

It was gifted by the Indian government for, in the words of the then Indian High Commissioner K.P. Ernest, in recognition of Wellington’s commitment to a tolerant, open and inclusive society.

Impressive by day, and more so when illuminated at night, the Ngā Kina sculpture on Wellington’s Waterfront acknowledges the history and physical geography of the area, including the Kumutoto Stream which flowed from Woodward Street to the sea.

It also provides something of an artistic bookend of the stream when coupled with Kendra Parker’s Kumutoto Stream Soundscape (stop 16 on the Commonwealth Walkway).

Local sculptor Michel Tuffery formed the kina (sea urchins) shells – some weighing up to 7.5 tonnes – as a reference to a midden (a shell mound that may have existed on the Kumutoto Pā), providing a strong link to the Mana Whenua (local Māori) of Wellington.

Find out more about the Ngā Kina Sculpture

A nice spot to picnic, soak up the sun and set the little ones amok in the playground and giant slide, Frank Kitts Park is often a hive of activity on Wellington’s Waterfront.

Completed in the late 1980’s, Frank Kitts Park was one of the first areas of the waterfront to be developed and features an amphitheatre for concerts and events, the playground and, at the harbour edge, small shops and cafes.

The design of the park was heavily influenced by the annual street car race that ran through the area at that time. The seaside promenade was the start grid for the race and is the reason why the promenade is flanked by a high wall on its city side – to ensure spectator safety. It also provides welcome shelter from the prevalent northerly which often whips across the harbour.

Te Raukura – the wharewaka (canoe house) on Wellington's Waterfront is both an elegant home for the city's two waka (canoes) and the fulfilment of a vision to return a Māori presence to Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington Harbour).

The vision belonged to Taranaki Whānui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika, a collective of people from Taranaki, whose ancestors migrated to Wellington in the 1820’s and 1830’s. The name of the wharewaka, Te Raukura, symbolises the peaceful resistance of their tupuna at Parihaka in the 1880’s and the white feather (Te Raukura) is still worn by the descendants today.

Taranaki Whānui includes whānau (family) and hapū (sub-tribes) from Te Atiawa, Taranaki, Ngāti Tama, Ngāti Ruanui and Ngāti Mutunga iwi. The wharewaka design is based on a korowai (cloak), which signifies mana and prestige.

The korowai roofline recalls the traditional sails of the waka fleet, and the louvred metal panels
symbolise a cloak draped over the sides of the building. The wharewaka opened in 2011 and was built in partnership with Wellington City Council, acknowledging the past and marking the city's future commitment to Taranaki Whānui.

Te Raukura is open daily and can be accessed through Karaka Café.

Find out more about Te Wharewaka o Pōneke

A popular photo destination for all the right – and wrong – reasons, the bronze naked man leans defiantly into the harbour and the prevailing northerly from the wide walking wharf area adjacent to Te Papa.

Sculptor Max Patté, a veteran of internationally-renowned film company Weta Workshop, produced Solace in the Wind, which was bought by the Wellington City Council in 2008.

It soon became a popular favourite among Wellingtonians and tourists alike for its photo qualities. The naked form has not been immune to the occasional artistic reinterpretation, sometimes redressed during the costume-crazy Wellington Rugby Sevens event – and once as a Santa at Christmas time.

The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is the national museum and art gallery of New Zealand, and dominates the eastern end of the Wellington Waterfront. Its name broadly translates as ‘the place of treasures of this land’.

Opened in 1998 for a cost of $300 million, Te Papa is the latest incarnation of a series of national museums in the capital, which once included the Dominion Museum, located adjacent to the Parihaka Memorial (stop 4 on the Commonwealth Walkway).

Attracting over 1 million visitors every year, the building has six floors of exhibitions, cafés and gift shops dedicated to New Zealand's culture and environment. Te Papa also incorporates outdoor areas with artificial caves, native bush and wetlands.

The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is open every day from 10am to 6pm except Christmas day.

In November 2005, work on a multi-million dollar high-rise development in the heart of Wellington city was suddenly halted when foundation work for the new building uncovered the remains of a 160 year old pā site.

It was a remarkable find, given the pā site was just off Courtenay Place, in central Wellington, under a two-storey building that had stood in Taranaki Street for 100 years.

The remnants were of Te Aro Pā, one of the largest in the Wellington area, with up to 200 people in the 1850’s occupying an area of more than two hectares.

Te Aro Pā visitors' centre is not permanently staffed, but groups can pop in to view the preserved foundations of two ponga (tree fern) buildings – or whare ponga – dating from the 1840’s.

Find out more about Te Aro Pā.

Paying homage to the cinematic excellence that has been cultivated in Wellington over the past three decades, Tripod strides across the eastern entrance to the hospitality precinct of Courtenay Place – opposite the grandest cinema in Wellington, The Embassy.

Constructed by Weta Workshop, Tripod looks like it is the sum of many disparate mechanical parts (look closely and you’ll see some Nintendo 64 parts embedded in the three trunk-like legs), evoking the wondrously creative and cobbled-together nature of Wellington’s film industry.

Standing imperiously over the boulevards connecting the Waterfront to the Basin Reserve, the statue of Queen Victoria represents the final stop of the Commonwealth Walkway.

Nestled at the foot of her namesake Mt Victoria, which flanks the eastern boundary of Wellington’s CBD, the Queen Victoria Statue was first displayed in 1905 in Post Office Square (near what is now the Wellington Museum) at a cost of £3000 – she has resided in the current spot since 1911.

The Queen Victoria Statue was the focal point for Empire Day celebrations for around 50 ardent imperialists, but as the sun dimmed on the British Empire and the more palatable notions of the Commonwealth gained the ascendancy, so too did the imperialists’ celebrations fade.

Find out more about the Queen Victoria Statue