Wellington Anniversary Day

Wellington Anniversary Day is Monday 22nd January. This is the day which celebrates when the first ship with European settlers arrived in that region. Each province has a different day although both Nelson and Auckland celebrate their anniversary day on January 29th this year.

This is a public holiday in that province. It is always celebrated on a Monday to give people a long weekend. Southland used to celebrate their anniversary on the same day as Wellington but now it is held on the Tuesday after Easter which gives people a 5-day weekend. (Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays.)

There are many events planned for this long weekend in the Wellington province. The Summer Concert Series in Porirua starts on Friday and continues until Monday. There is horse racing on Saturday, a Pasifika Festival which celebrates the culture of people from Pacific Islands, and the fun Night Market Bubble Day on Saturday evening.

For more about our anniversary days and public holidays, listen to January 16 2009.

Vocabulary

• province – a large geographical region using including a major city
• settlers – people from Europe – mainly from England – who came to settle and live in New Zealand in the nineteenth century