Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Lord Auckland!

In 1840 Captain William Hobson, then the Lieutenant Governor of New Zealand named the newly established capital city of the colony after this pompous looking dude that was his naval commander: Lord Auckland.

His statue is sitting in front of the Civic Administration Building just as pompous looking as the Lord himself or at least it used to when it was unveiled back in 1966. It looks quite dated now… Auckland was capital for 25 years before losing the privilege to Wellington.

A sailing regatta was held when the union flag was raised for the first time, a tradition which is still observed every year on Auckland Anniversary Day in late January.