Port Underwood

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Te Whanganui / Port Underwood
Marlborough - Port Underwood.jpg
Te Whanganui / Port Underwood
NZ Marlborough Sounds relief location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Te Whanganui / Port Underwood
Location of Te Whanganui / Port Underwood
Location Marlborough region
Coordinates 41°20′S174°07′E / 41.333°S 174.117°E / -41.333; 174.117 Coordinates: 41°20′S174°07′E / 41.333°S 174.117°E / -41.333; 174.117
Native nameTe Whanganui  (Māori)
EtymologyBig Harbour in te reo Māori, European name after Joseph Underwood
Part of Te Koko-o-Kupe / Cloudy Bay
Ocean/sea sources Pacific Ocean
Max. length9.3 kilometres (5.8 mi)
Max. width3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi)
Islands Horahora Kakahu Island

Te Whanganui / Port Underwood is a sheltered harbour which forms the north-east extension of Te Koko-o-Kupe / Cloudy Bay at the northeast of New Zealand's South Island, on the east coast of the Marlborough Sounds. [1] With only a relatively narrow entrance to the south-south-east it is sheltered from almost all winds. Originally considered part of Cloudy Bay, the port was named after Joseph Underwood of the shipping firm Kabel and Underwood in the early 19th century. [1]

There is evidence of a large Māori population at various times prior to European arrival in New Zealand. In the 1820s the local Rangitane were defeated by the Ngāti Toa chief Te Rauparaha. Sealers first visited about 1826 and were followed immediately by whalers. [2] John Guard, who had started a whaling station in Tory Channel the previous year, set up a subsidiary station at Kakapo Bay in 1828. [1] By 1840 there were approximately 150 Europeans in the area, [2] probably the largest concentration in the South Island at that time. Large numbers of southern right whales and humpback whales were hunted in the bay, resulting in destroying these populations and rarities of their sightings in the bay nowadays. [3]

On 16 June HMS Herald arrived with Major Thomas Banbury on board bringing the Treaty of Waitangi for the South Island chiefs to sign. This took place on Horahora-Kakahu Island just offshore from the eastern shoreline. The only European to sign the Treaty as one of the cedants, Joseph Thomas, son-in-law of Te Rauparaha's elder brother Nohorua, [4] signed on 16 June. Nouhora himself, initially reluctant to sign, did so the following day. A commemorative bronze plaque marking the occasion was unveiled here on 3 October 1964. [5]

The name of the harbour was officially altered to Te Whanganui / Port Underwood in August 2014. [6]

Notable people

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Cloudy Bay

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The following lists events that happened during 1834 in New Zealand.

The following lists events that happened during 1831 in New Zealand.

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The following lists events that happened during 1830 in New Zealand.

The following lists events that happened during 1828 in New Zealand.

The following lists events that happened during 1827 in New Zealand.

The following lists events that happened during 1826 in New Zealand.

The following lists events that happened during 1822 in New Zealand.

The following lists events that happened during 1820 in New Zealand.

There is a drastic decline in the number of ships visiting New Zealand from the previous year. An economic depression starts in New South Wales as a result of the escalation of war in Europe and the consequent reduction in the number of convicts being transported. In March news of the Boyd massacre reaches Port Jackson and a punitive expedition is sent to New Zealand and bombards the village of the incorrectly blamed chief, Te Pahi. After this the few whaling ships that later head for New Zealand usually prefer to avoid landing, especially in the Bay of Islands.

Foveaux Strait is the centre of attention for sealing ships. Sealing gangs are dropped along the coast from southern Fiordland to Otago Harbour and on Stewart Island/Rakiura. The Bay of Islands is sometimes on the journey to or from Port Jackson. The Chatham Islands are also visited. A few whalers also operate around New Zealand; some also collect timber from Bay of Islands.

Sealing continues at Bass Strait and the Antipodes Islands. At the end of the year there is a new sealing rush to the Bounty and Auckland Islands. Few sealers, if any, are known to have visited the Foveaux Strait area at this time, although this may be due in part to the secrecy of the captains and owners in reporting where they operate and/or the existence of the Strait not yet being widely known. Whaling continues off the east coast of the North Island. Ships are now visiting the Bay of Islands on a reasonably regular basis. The first reports about the poor behaviour of ships crews are sent to the Church Missionary Society in London.

Wiremu Neera Te Awaitaia

Wiremu Neera Te Awaitaia was a Māori chief in New Zealand during first contact with European traders, the 1820s Musket Wars up to the 1860s New Zealand Wars. Born in or around 1796 into the Waikato Tribe of Ngāti Māhanga, he has been described as a "friend of Pākehā and a Chief of great influence" in the region of Raglan, New Zealand. He witnessed the coming of Christianity to Māoridom in the mid-1830s, the sale of native land to the first European settlers, and the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in the 1840s. Te Awaitaia also witnessed the Māori King Movement in the 1850s, and the New Zealand Wars in the 1860s. He died on 27 April 1866.

Edward Marsh Williams was a missionary, interpreter, and judge who played a significant role in the British colonisation of New Zealand. He was born in Hampstead, London, the eldest son of Archdeacon Henry Williams and Marianne Williams.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Wises New Zealand Guide, 7th Edition, 1979. p.457.
  2. 1 2 Wises New Zealand Guide, 7th Edition, 1979. p.67.
  3. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 October 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "The chief Nohorua with his wife and son".
  5. Wises New Zealand Guide, 7th Edition, 1979. p.149.
  6. "NZGB decisions". Land Information New Zealand. August 2014. Archived from the original on 21 November 2015. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  7. Orr, Katherine W. "Ann Boyce". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography . Ministry for Culture and Heritage . Retrieved 28 March 2012.