First shore whaling station at Te Awaiti
- When
- 1827
- Where
- Te Awaiti, Tory Channel · Te Awaiti
- Reach
- Local
John Guard set up a shore station in Tory Channel, starting an industry that placed small mixed Māori–European settlements right around the coast.
Shore whaling needed local labour, local food and local protection, so stations were built on Māori terms and often cemented by marriage. Places like Te Awaiti, Ōtākou and Moeraki became the first genuinely bicultural communities in the country, and many later towns grew directly out of them. The right whale population collapsed within about fifteen years, but the settlements outlasted the whales.
Regions affected
Sources
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