Lower Hutt Attractions

15km northeast of Wellington is the outer suburb of Lower Hutt (pop. 95,000), which was named after a director of the New Zealand Land Company. It lies on the lower course of the Hutt River, which is flanked by steep hills. Near here is Petone, where the first settlers arrived in 1840; frequent flooding by the Hutt River soon led them to move their settlement further south. After reaching agreement with the local Maoris on the sale of the necessary land they cleared the forest and laid out gardens. But as the expanding city of Wellington gradually extended to the lower course of the Hutt River the settlement of Lower Hutt became a residential suburb, and some of the market gardens gave way to factories. There are now also a number of research institutes and television studios.