John Plimmer has been called the Father of Wellington.

He was a member of the Wellington Provincial Council

Wellington Province

The Wellington Province was a province of New Zealand until the abolition of provincial government in 1876.-Area:...

 from 1856 to 1857, the first Wellington Town Board (1863) and was on the Wellington City Council from 1870 to 1871.

His principal public service was the organisation of the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company between 1880 and 1886. The township (now a suburb) of Plimmerton

Plimmerton

The township of Plimmerton is adjacent to one of the more congenial beaches in the northwest part of the Wellington urban area of Porirua in New Zealand...

 on the Wellington - Manawatu Line

Wellington - Manawatu Line

The Wellington and Manawatu Line is an unofficial name for the section of New Zealand's North Island Main Trunk Railway between Wellington and Palmerston North...

 built by the company was named after him.

He arrived in Wellington from Shropshire, England on the ship Gertrude in 1841. As an entrepreneur in 1851 he purchased the stranded sailing ship Inconstant

Inconstant (ship)

Inconstant was a wooden full-rigged sailing ship built in 1848 at Cape Breton, Nova Scotia which later became known as "Plimmer's Ark" and played an important role in the development of Wellington, New Zealand...

and converted the hull into a warehouse and one of the first piers in Wellington. It became known as "Plimmer's Ark", a centre of business in early Wellington, used as an auction house, customs office and lighthouse.

Legacy

There is a statue of him at the bottom of Plimmer Steps off Lambton Quay, Wellington.

The McKinnon brothers Don

Don McKinnon

Sir Donald Charles "Don" McKinnon, ONZ, GCVO is a former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of New Zealand. He was the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations from 2000 until 2008.-Early life:...

, Ian

Ian McKinnon

Ian Duncan McKinnon, QSO, JP, is a New Zealand educator and local politician, serving presently as Deputy Mayor on Wellington City Council.-Teacher administrator:Ian McKinnon, BCom, DipEd, began his teaching career at King's College, Auckland...

, John

John McKinnon

John Walter McKinnon, , New Zealand diplomat and public servant.McKinnon was educated at Nelson College, Victoria University of Wellington, and the London School of Economics...

 and Malcolm

Malcolm McKinnon

Malcolm McKinnon is a New Zealand historian. He taught at Victoria University of Wellington 1975-1990 and his since worked independently as an historian...

are great-great-grandsons of Plimmer.