Торндон: История и современность веллингтонского пригорода.

Suburb of Wellington City, New Zealand

Ngāti Mutunga from Taranaki established the fortified village, Pipitea Pā, in 1824 on the Haukawakawa flats. Then the Ngāti Mutunga left on the sailing ship Rodney in 1835 settling in the Chatham Islands and Te Āti Awa occupied the pā. The pā declined after European settlement though some people remained there into the 20th century. There were other villages near 191 Thorndon Quay and near the junction of Hobson Street with Fitzherbert Terrace. The Pā's gardens reached parliament grounds and the Botanic Garden. Thorndon, like Te Aro, is one of the few comparatively flat areas on the harbour. Haukawakawa / Thorndon flats became a significant part of Port Nicholson's first organised European settlement in 1840. S C Brees described it in 1848 as "the court end of town". European settlers built their houses alongside the Maori settlement of Pipitea and the New Zealand Company named all the flats Thorndon after the estate of W H F Petre one of their directors.

The buildings of the New Zealand Parliament are located in Thorndon. Thorndon is also the location of national institutions including the Appeal and High Courts —the Supreme Court is on Lambton Quay facing Parliament— the National Library and Archives New Zealand. The national museum moved from behind Parliament in Museum Street to a much larger purpose built building in Buckle Street just before the second world war then in 1998 to the harbour edge and is now Te Papa Tongarewa. Thorndon is home to two Cathedrals: the Anglican St Paul's Cathedral built between 1937 and 1998 to replace the pro cathedral now known as Old St Paul's, which in turn had replaced a church on the site of the Beehive in 1844; and the Roman Catholic Sacred Heart Cathedral in Hill Street, opened in 1901 to replace the destroyed St Mary's Cathedral in Eccleston Hill dating from 1851. The Thistle Inn is one of New Zealand's oldest pubs.

Thorndon occupies the northern end of the narrow coastal plain that makes up the heart of Wellington. It is flanked to the north by the green hills of Wadestown, by Northland and Kelburn to the west and south, and on its south Pipitea with the Government Centre, the marae and to its east the port facilities of Wellington Harbour. Thorndon now incorporates Te Ahumairangi Hill. The boundaries of Thorndon form a very rough triangle. Starting from the triangle's lower south west corner, at the intersection of Glenmore Street and Collins Terrace, the boundary goes up through the north side of Te Ahumairangi Hill right across to Wadestown's Weld Street and down to the north end of Frandi Street. Then the boundary follows the west side of Thorndon Quay down until Davis Street where it zig zags through to Hill Street then over to Bowen Street, Tinakori Road and Glenmore Street up to its junction with Collins Terrace.

Queen's Park was created to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897. It is bounded by Grant Road, Wadestown Road and Park Road. There is a fountain at the intersection of Grant Road and Wadestown Road. Trees in the park are a mixture of natives and exotics including a stand of oak trees. The Magyar Millennium Park, commonly known as the Hungarian garden, is on the corner of Molesworth Street and Hawkestone Street. It was built in 2003, although it was planned to be opened in 2000 to mark the millennium of Hungary being a Christian state. It is the only Hungarian monument in New Zealand. It incorporates a paved area, seating, planted garden beds, a carved gate and memorial plaques.

Schools located in Thorndon include Wellington Girls' College, St Mary's College, Queen Margaret College and primary schools Thorndon School and Sacred Heart Cathedral School. The Central Regional Health School, a hospital school, is located in Thorndon. It has a roll of as of .

Thorndon Farmers Market is set up each Saturday in Hill Street. The Thorndon Fair is held annually, usually on the first Sunday of December. The fair has many stalls selling crafts and second hand goods and is held for the benefit of Thorndon School. It has taken place for many years and is one of the main community events held in Thorndon. Parts of Tinakori Road and Hill Street are closed during the fair. Thorndon's Sky Stadium is one of New Zealand's top sports venues. The Thorndon Tennis (and Squash) Club, established in the 19th century, is one of the oldest in the world.

"Wellington's Show Walk". Thorndon Esplanade with its baths and shrubs lies beneath Aotea Quay. Its band rotunda was sent to Central Park in 1921. Built at the end of the 1880s on the reclamation of the Manawatu Railway Company and intended to be a place of fashionable display it did not survive the first World War. It had become dirty and disreputable suffering from the increased activity in the smoky railway yards alongside. Its coprosmas and "gallant pohutukawas" never grew larger seeming to lack any care from the City Council but the wind and the poor soil and the grimy railway yard discouraged plants and visitors. "Lovers seemed to monopolise the gardens in the evenings". The salt water baths were closed in 1920 and the superstructure moved to Evans Bay for dressing sheds. New baths opened in Murphy Street in November 1924 with certain hours set aside for mixed bathing.