On 17 March 1841 when he was one year old, George Baker arrived in Wellington on the Lady Nugent with his parents, George and Susan from Exeter and his two-year old sister, Harriette. When they arrived, they were given a fortnight’s provisions and free rent in the barracks until the next batch of immigrants arrived. George, the father, was a carpenter and joiner and was first employed assembling immigrant cottages brought out from England in sections. He is particularly known, however, for the fact that his property in Karori gave its name to the Baker’s Hill Mining Company, when it became the scene of the Wellington ‘gold rush’.
George, the son, became a carpenter like his father and worked with him as soon as he was old enough. When he was a young man he accompanied his father to Ballarat in Australia and the two probably worked there for a time. They came back to Karori and young George worked as a journeyman carpenter (a qualified carpenter, working for wages) for a few years before going into business on his own account. He married Emma Stockbridge early in 1864 and the couple had twelve children.
![George and Emma Baker (centre) with their 12 children. William George is 2nd from left in the front. [Photograph courtesy John McNeil, ChCh]](http://mtvictoria.history.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/William-Baker-300x204.png)
George and Emma Baker (centre) with their 12 children. William George is 2nd from left in the front. [Photograph courtesy John McNeil, ChCh]
![Dwelling Ellice Ave, 1897 (now 20 Porritt Ave and 12 Albany Ave), owned and built by George Baker. [Wellington City Archives 00053:35:2213]](http://mtvictoria.history.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Baker-Ellice-Ave.png)
Dwelling Ellice Ave, 1897
(now 20 Porritt Ave and 12 Albany Ave), owned and built by George Baker.
[Wellington City Archives 00053:35:2213]
![Dwelling off Austin St, 1896, owned and built by George Baker. [Wellington City Archives 00053:222:1574]](http://mtvictoria.history.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Baker-Austin-St.png)
Dwelling off Austin St, 1896,
owned and built by George Baker.
[Wellington City Archives 00053:222:1574]
William had no formal art training, but at the age of 19, in 1883, he started exhibiting his oil paintings with the Fine Arts Association in Wellington. He painted the great lakes, rivers and mountains of the South Island, and in the North Island his work included representations of numerous Maori pa and villages, usually set beside a picturesque river or lake. He continued painting until he died aged 64 in 1929.
In 2007 a major exhibition of the paintings of William George Baker was held at the Pataka Gallery in Porirua. The curator described Baker as possibly “this country’s first and one of its most successful itinerant artists”. His work is represented in the collections of numerous art galleries and museums in New Zealand including Auckland Art Gallery, Alexander Turnbull Library, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Christchurch Art Gallery, Canterbury Museum, Waikato Museum of Art & History and the Rotorua Museum of Art and History and at the National Library of Australia in Canberra.
William lived briefly in Mt Victoria with his family. In 1893 they lived in Moir Street.
See an article about the Pataka exhibition at www.internationalartcentre.co.nz/news/?story=SV479