Sir Julius Vogel

Born in London in 1835, he later made his career in Australasia as a journalist, newspaper editor, and politician. He became a major figure in New Zealand public life and served as premier, where he was closely associated with an expansive programme of public works and assisted immigration that aimed to speed up the colony's development.

He is often remembered for the scale of his ideas. His policies promoted borrowing to build railways, roads, and telegraph links, and they left a lasting mark on New Zealand's infrastructure and settlement. He was also notable as the country's first Jewish premier, which gives him a special place in its political history.

Beyond politics, he wrote fiction as well as journalism, showing an imaginative side that matched his public ambition. He died in 1899, but he remains an important and sometimes controversial figure in New Zealand history because of the way he pushed the young colony to think bigger about its future.