Ceremony to Mark William Hobson - first governor of New Zealand’s baptism in Waterford, Ireland& The new Munster film project

Send any photo as an ecard!

While visiting Ireland in November 2005, Rodney Walshe, Founding Trustee of the Ireland Fund of New Zealand attended an unveiling ceremony to honour William Hobson, the First Governor of New Zealand, founder of the Treaty of Waitangi and the state of New Zealand.

Hobson was born in Wexford, Ireland and to commemorate the connection with New Zealand, a plaque was placed at St Patrick’s Church in Waterford where the Hobson family were all baptised and many married and were finally buried. To mark Hobson’s actual birthplace in Wexford, a New Zealand tree was also planted.

The story of William Hobson also captured the imagination of Cormac Duffy, a historian based in Ireland who is the founder of The New Munster Film Project.

The project involved creating a brief synopsis in the form of a short DVD which focussed on the birth place in Munster of William Hobson. The DVD was developed as a useful tool to take to film directors and New Zealand Production companies who may be interested in progressing this story into a potentially epic full-length feature film.

One such individual film director/producer and writer to be approached will be New Zealander Peter Jackson, director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and more recently, King Kong.

william hobson info >

For further details:

T - 64-9-977 2251
F - 64-9-977 2256
E - newzealand@irlfunds.org