Te Onepoto / Taylors Mistake is a locality in New Zealand's South Island, at the southeastern extremity of the city of

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

Taylors Mistake is a bay adjacent to the locality, on the north side of Awaroa / Godley Head, on the northern edge of Banks Peninsula. The name Te Onepoto / Taylors Mistake is one of New Zealand's dual placenames. The

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 ...

portion, Te Onepoto, means short or little beach. For the English portion, the ''

Lyttelton Times The ''Lyttelton Times'' was the first newspaper in Canterbury, New Zealand, publishing the first edition in January 1851. It was established by the Canterbury Association as part of its planned settlement of Canterbury and developed into a libera ...

'' in 1865 said it was "originally called Vincent's Bay, and more recently Taylors Mistake, owing to the master of a vessel running in here during the night-time, thinking he was about to pass over the Sumner Bar." There are almost 50 small century-old seaside baches remaining on the coastal strip between Hobsons Bay to the north, and Boulder Bay to the south. Some were cave baches, with Whare Moki being considered the oldest surviving example in NZ. Most of the baches were in 1995 or 2016 recognised as heritage assets by either Heritage NZ or by the Christchurch City Council under the resource management act. The baches appear in vernacular works of art and poetry, including a 1956 painting by

Bill Sutton (artist) William Alexander Sutton (1 March 1917 – 23 January 2000) was a New Zealand portrait and landscape artist. A graduate of the Canterbury College School of Art (now the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts) he returned there to teach f ...

held at the

Christchurch Art Gallery The Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, commonly known as the Christchurch Art Gallery, is the public art gallery of the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. It has its own substantial art collection and also presents a programme of New ...

The beach is popular with swimmers and surfers, and a livecam operated by some of the bach-holders allows conditions to be checked in advance. The Taylors Mistake Surf Life Saving Club was established at the beach, by bach-holders and others, in 1916. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, hills above the beach were fortified with two machine gun posts, to guard the Godley Head coastal defence battery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Te Onepoto Taylors Mistake Bays of Canterbury, New Zealand Populated places in Canterbury, New Zealand Populated coastal places in New Zealand