ALLEN, GEORGE (1814-99) was born at Deal, Kent, the son of a boatbuilder who took him as a seven-year apprentice to his own trade. By that time the South Australian Company was attracting attention and he accepted an engagement to build its boats and small craft.

In 1836 Allen left England in the brig Emma, 160 tons, which six months later cast anchor off Kangaroo Island. There they had to wait two months for the arrival of the governor (Captain Hindmarsh) in the last week of 1836. The expedition then proceeded to establish the colony and lay out the town of Adelaide. With a view of returning to England, Allen signed on as a carpenter on a homeward-bound ship, which was wrecked at the outset on Encounter Island. He then tried the Sarah and Elizabeth, but she was condemned, and he had to put in some time at Hobart at his own trade. Having worked his passage to Sydney he joined the Orontes, but she too was wrecked (on the north coast of Australia) and the castaways found their way overland to Port Essington, where H.M.S. Alligator lay. Allen was engaged to repair the captain's gig and to do jobs, and then found his way back to Sydney, about the middle of 1839. He came to New Zealand in the Adelaide, visiting Bay of Islands and Waitemata, was back in Adelaide for Christmas, and reached Deal towards the end of 1840. Having received payment from the Admiralty for work done for the Alligator, he married Jane Elizabeth Paul and left for New Zealand in the Katherine Stuart Forbes (Feb 1841). He was then 26 years of age.

In the alarm of 1846 he had command of a militia patrol on the outskirts of Wellington. He worked at his own trade (boatbuilding) with such success that he was able to retire in 1866, and bought a farm at Waiwetu. Having now a competence, Allen was elected for Wellington City to the Provincial Council (1861). He was a member of the committee which decided upon the position of the Queen's wharf, and it was largely due to his insistence that the durability of the piles was increased by coppering. He was defeated at the election in 1865. Allen was a member of the City Council (1876-83 and 1887-88), and for a few months in 1879 he was mayor of the city. He also served on the charitable aid board, and was a trustee and treasurer of the hospital.

Wellington P.C. Proc.; Ward; Cycl. N.Z., i (p); Evening Post, 30 Sep 1929.

Reference: Volume 1, page 21

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