Port Fitzroy is named after Robert FitzRoy - scientist, Vice Admiral of the Royal Navy, and most significantly, the 2nd Governor of New Zealand. He achieved lasting fame as the captain of HMS Beagle during Charles Darwin's famous voyage, FitzRoy's second expedition to Tierra del Fuego and the Southern Cone.
FitzRoy was a pioneering meteorologist who made accurate daily weather predictions, which he called by a new name of his own invention: "forecasts". In 1854 he established what would later be called the Met Office, and created systems to get weather information to sailors and fishermen for their safety. He was an able surveyor and hydrographer.
As Governor of New Zealand, serving from 1843 to 1845, he tried to protect the Maori from illegal land sales claimed by British settlers. He insisted that the New Zealand Company pay the Maori a realistic price for the land they claimed to have purchased. These moves made him very unpopular and the New Zealand Company lobbied in England against his Govenorship. Ultimately he was recalled to England and replaced with George Grey, then Governor of South Australia.
 |
First to sail into port:
emm-jay
|