Bunny Street

Bunny Street was formed on 1886 by the NZ Railways Department between Lambton Quay and the reclaimed land of Waterloo Quay, providing access between the railway goods yard and the Harbour. It is intersected by Featherston Street and Stout Street. The layout was later amended to match the Wellington Railway station when it was built. 

 

It was named after Henry Bunny, a Member of Parliament for Wairarapa between 1865 and 1881. Bunny fled from England in 1853 after a scandal involving a property scheme collapsing and settled in the Wairarapa. He named his home there Longwood, after Napoleon's residence in exile on Saint Helena. He applied to the New Zealand Bar but was later the first person to be disbarred in New Zealand after it was discovered his sponsor was his brother-in-law (a reverend with his own scandals).

 

Bunny represented Wairarapa on the Wellington Provincial council between 1864–1865 and Wairarapa West between 1865–1876. In 1865 He was also elected to the New Zealand General assembly to represent the Wairarapa Electorate until 1881. After a mostly successful political career he went on to lose four elections in a row between 1881-1890. He took his own life in 1891 and is buried at Featherston Cemetery.