The Middle

No.25

“The Middle”

Nelson - Whakatū

Looking out across to the Richmond Ranges from
a monument on Botanical Hill, near the centre of the city. The walk to this is called the “Centre of New Zealand walk”. Despite the name, this monument does not mark the actual geographic centre of New Zealand.

Instead, the monument marks the “zero, zero” point to which the first geodetic surveys of New Zealand were referenced. These surveys were started in the 1870s by John Spence Browning, the Chief Surveyor for Nelson. From this 360-degree viewpoint, survey marks in neighbouring regions (including Wellington in the North Island) could be triangulated and the local surveys connected.

Acrylic and ink on a canvas panel 

Framed under glass in a Shadow box frame

230 x 280 mm