Transom of a ship in gilded carved wood bearing the inscription "DUMONT- DURVILLE"

The sign holds the name of the great French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville D’Urville who first visited New Zealand in 1824 as second-in-command to Louis Duperrey.  On his second voyage of exploration and scientific investigation from 1826, d’Urville commanded the Astrolabe. He spent three months charting the northern coast of the South Island and the east coast of the North Island, also studying the local people, plant and animal life. In the 1830s, d’Urville published scholarly and popular accounts of the voyage of the Astrolabe. 

In 1840 he visited New Zealand for the third time, from March until May, approaching from the Auckland Islands and sailing up the east coast of both South and North Islands. Some days were spent in Akaroa Harbour. During this visit Dumont d'Urville charted the coastline, met with Māori and European, and commented on the recent British annexation of New Zealand.

On his return to France Dumont d'Urville was promoted to the rank of rear admiral in December 1840 and was awarded the gold medal of the Société de Géographie, of which he was a foundation member. Again he received a royal command from King Louis-Philippe to publish an account of the voyage. He wrote the first three volumes of Voyage au pôle sud et dans l'Océanie and had completed the first three chapters of the fourth volume when he died with his wife and only surviving son in a railway accident between Bellevue and Meudon on 8 May 1842. Dumont d’Urville (sometimes writen DDU) is the historic French station. 

Bibliography
Dumont d'Urville, J. S. C. New Zealand, 1826–1827. Trans. O. Wright. [Wellington, 1950]
Dumont d'Urville, J. S. C. Voyage de la corvette L'Astrolabe : histoire du voyage. 5 vols. Paris, 1830–33
Dumont d'Urville, J. S. C. The voyage of the Astrolabe , 1840. Trans. O. Wright. Wellington, 1955
Dunmore, J. French explorers in the Pacific. Vol. 2, The nineteenth century. Oxford, 1969
Lesson, R. P. Notice historique sur l'amiral Dumont d'Urville. Rochefort, 1846
Ross, J. O'C. This stern coast. Wellington, 1969