If we look at a map of Wellington City, some of its oldest streets – Lambton and Thorndon Quays – are seen to be some distance from the waterfront. Just how much of Wellington has been reclaimed from the sea becomes more obvious when a map of the wharves in Lambton Harbour also shows the 1840 shoreline.
Land was scarce in Wellington from the beginning, when 1100 town-acre lots were pegged out in 1840, with few spaces for public buildings or parks, and public access to the harbour restricted to the northern end of the town. The need for expansion out into the harbour was soon realised, although the small reclamations carried out in the early years were private concerns, as were the first wharves.

It was in the 1850’s that the first sizeable reclamations took place, starting with an 1852 360′ x 100′ extension below Willis Street built by C R Carter (who did much of the early reclamation and seawall work) at a cost of