HMNZS Wellington Has Links to Tararua

It’s official. Tararua can now claim an indisputable link with the City of Wellington
and there is a Charter to prove it.

A small south-eastern corner of the district that is officially part of Tararua but pays
rates to the Greater Wellington Regional Council makes this possible.

So on September 25 when the HMNZS Wellington sailed into her home port for a
ceremony granting her crew the Freedom of the City, Mayor Maureen Reynolds was
among the official party.

Included in the Order of Service was a reading of the Charter by chief executive
Greater Wellington Regional Council Peter Benham.

The Charter displays the logos of associated local bodies within the Greater
Wellington jurisdiction along with Tararua.

The custom of granting a Charter and thereby the freedom of the city is an ancient
procedure dating from the Middle Ages.

The ‘Wellington’ is the Royal New Zealand Navy’s latest addition.

Launched in October 2007 and accepted into the RNZN on 6 May 2010,
the ‘Wellington’ will be able to operate throughout New Zealand’s 200 mile Exclusive
Economic Zone, the Southern Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.

Included in the range of roles will be patrolling, surveillance, search and rescue,
disaster relief and support to peacekeeping operations and sea training for the Navy.

Tararua is to receive a framed copy of the Charter that will hang in the Council
Chambers.