The southern sealing rush
- When
- 1803–1815
- Where
- Dusky Sound · Tamatea
- Reach
- Several regions
Gangs of sealers worked the far south so intensively that fur seal colonies collapsed within a generation — the first sustained European industry in New Zealand.
Sealing gangs were dropped on remote southern coasts and outlying islands for months at a time, occasionally forgotten entirely. The trade brought the first prolonged contact between Europeans and southern Māori, and the first mixed communities at places like Ruapuke and Codfish Island. It also stripped the coast: by the 1820s the herds that had drawn the ships were largely gone, and the industry moved on to whaling.
Regions affected
Sources
Written for this project from these references rather than copied from them. Follow a link to check the account against the original.
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