New Leinster Province
New Leinster was a province of the Colony of New Zealand, consisting of Stewart Island/Rakiura and named after the Irish province of Leinster.
Governor William Hobson named the North Island New Ulster, the South Island New Munster and Stewart Island/Rakiura New Leinster after the corresponding regions in Ireland in 1840. In 1840, a Royal Charter created the separate colony of New Zealand and the three main islands were officially named New Ulster, New Munster and New Leinster. Being much smaller than the other two provinces and having almost no population, it existed only on paper, and was governed from Auckland. New Leinster was merged into the province of New Munster with the passage of the New Zealand Constitution Act in 1846 and all three provinces names were abolished in 1852.
