Port Molyneux is a tiny settlement on the coast of

South Otago South Otago lies in the south east of the South Island of New Zealand. As the name suggests, it forms the southernmost part of the geographical region of Otago. The exact definition of the area designated as South Otago is imprecise, as the area is ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, close to the north-easternmost point of

The Catlins The Catlins (sometimes referred to as The Catlins Coast) comprises an area in the southeastern corner of the South Island of New Zealand. The area lies between Balclutha and Invercargill, straddling the boundary between the Otago and Southlan ...

. Now home only to farmland, it was a thriving port in the early years of New Zealand's European settlement. The settlement, located equidistant between

Kaka Point Kaka Point is a small town at the northern edge of The Catlins, an area of the southern South Island of New Zealand. It is located 14 km south of Balclutha and 8 km north of the headland of Nugget Point. It has a seasonally fluctuatin ...

and the mouths of the

Clutha River / Mata-Au The Clutha River (, officially gazetted as Clutha River / ) is the second longest river in New Zealand and the longest in the South Island. It flows south-southeast through Central and South Otago from Lake Wānaka in the Southern Alps to the ...

was originally located at the mouth of the Clutha / Mata-Au. It takes its name from Molyneux Harbour, named by Captain

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

in 1774. In 1838 or 1839, it became the site of a

whaling Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industry ...

station, with the first permanent European settlers, George Willsher and Thomas Russell, arriving in 1840. The growth of settlement in the area largely started after the 1844 purchase of the Otago Block from local

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

.Port Molyneux: The Story of Maori and Pakeha in South Otago - a Centennial history. Chapter XV (1940)
" retrieved from the New Zealand Electronic Text Collection, 30 December 2018. The mining of coal at nearby Kaitangata from the 1850s and the discovery of gold inland at

Gabriel's Gully Gabriel's Gully is a locality in Otago, New Zealand, three kilometres from Lawrence township and close to the Tuapeka River. It was the site of New Zealand's first major gold rush. The discovery of gold at Gabriel's Gully by Gabriel Read on 25 ...

(leading to the

Otago Gold Rush The Otago Gold Rush (often called the Central Otago Gold Rush) was a gold rush that occurred during the 1860s in Central Otago, New Zealand. This was the country's biggest gold strike, and led to a rapid influx of foreign miners to the area – ...

of 1861–63) led to an increase of the necessity for shipping. Port Molyneux was an obvious destination, even though it was not a particularly good harbour,Port Molyneux: The Story of Maori and Pakeha in South Otago - a Centennial history. Chapter XIV (1940)
" retrieved from the New Zealand Electronic Text Collection, 30 December 2018. as it was located close to the regional hub of Balclutha, about 15 kilometres upriver. The town continued to thrive until events in the late 1870s which between them stripped it of its livelihood. First, a major flood in late 1878 carried silt down the Clutha / Mata-Au and changed the river's course. New outlets to the Pacific Ocean were created further up the coast (at its current mouth), and the outlet at Port Molyneux silted up, depriving the town of downriver traffic. Less than six months later, a second disaster for the town occurred, with an explosion at Kaitangata coal mine which killed 34 miners. Compounding these events, 1879 also saw the opening of a railway link from Balclutha to the provincial capital of

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, making for easier transport of goods and passengers to the city and its port. Almost nothing remains of the town as it was. In its heyday, the town's main street, Pendennis Street (now Port Molyneux Road), led to a central octagon. The township's commercial businesses included two general stores, an ironmonger, a butcher, a painter, a bootmaker, hotels, a carpenter, harbour and customs offices, and a sawmill. There was also a police station and lock-up, a school, and a church. Today, all that remains of the town are one or two derelict buildings inland from an area of coastal swamp. The church was moved four kilometres south to become the church at Kaka Point.Port Molyneux history summarised
" catlins.kiwi.nz Retrieved 30 December 2018.

References

{{coord, 46, 21, 40, S, 169, 46, 40, E, display=title Ghost towns in Otago Clutha District Otago Gold Rush The Catlins