Moturata, also called Taieri Island, is an island in the mouth of the
Taieri River
The Taieri River is the fourth-longest river in New Zealand and is in Otago in the South Island. Rising in the Lammerlaw Range, it initially flows north, then east around the Rock and Pillar range before turning southeast, reaching the sea sou ...
in southern New Zealand. It is connected to the mainland by a sandy causeway at low tide.
![Taieri-Willana2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Taieri-Willana2.jpg)
The island is a nature reserve, and is home to many protected seabirds, notably
yellow-eyed penguins. It was 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, primarily targeting
southern right whale
The southern right whale (''Eubalaena australis'') is a baleen whale, one of three species classified as right whales belonging to the genus ''Eubalaena''. Southern right whales inhabit oceans south of the Equator, between the latitudes of 20 ...
s and secondly
humpbacks and others in the 1830s and 40s. Many shore-whaling stations were operating all around New Zealand's coastline in this time, causing whale numbers to deplete to almost extinction. Today, whales are making a comeback slowly, occasionally being seen in this area in their migrating season. In June 2006, a pod of four southern right whales were seen frolicking off
Taieri Mouth. The group was composed of 3 males and 1 female, thought to be a mating group, which had not been observed in the waters of New Zealand for long period.
History
Taieri Island may have been the "Isle of Wight" where ''The Brothers'', a Sydney sealer chartered by Robert Campbell and commanded by Robert Mason landed eight of a gang of eleven men in November 1809. William Tucker, to Māori "Taka" and "Wioree" who settled in 1815 at
Whareakeake
Whareakeake (; formerly and colloquially Murdering Beach, also "Murderers Beach" or "Murdering Bay") is a beach northeast of Dunedin in the South Island of New Zealand, as well as the valley above and behind the beach. Located to the west of Ar ...
(Murdering Beach) near the
Otago Heads
The Otago Heads is the historic name given to the headlands and coastal settlements close to the mouth of the long drowned volcanic rift which forms the Otago Harbour, in the South Island of New Zealand.
The name has traditionally referred prima ...
, was in the gang. Alternatively the "Isle of Wight" may be
Green Island a few kilometres along the coast to the north.
In 1839 the
Weller brothers
The Weller brothers, Englishmen of Sydney, Australia, and Otago, New Zealand, were the founders of a whaling station on Otago Harbour and New Zealand's most substantial merchant traders in the 1830s.
Immigration
The brothers, Joseph Brooks (1802 ...
of the
Otago station on Otago Harbour established an outstation at Taieri Island, which they operated for three years. Edward Shortland recorded that it caught 70
tuns of oil in 1839, 15 in 1840 and 8 in 1841. The station operated under Mr. Cureton. In the evening of 9 June 1839 the
schooner
A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...
''Dublin Packet'', under the command of Captain Wells, was wrecked while attempting to pick up oil from the island station. She lost the second mate, the steward and a mentally ill man named "Dole" or "Cole" who was being sent from the Wellers' Otago station to Sydney.
In 1844,
Johnny Jones of
Waikouaiti
Waikouaiti is a small town in East Otago, New Zealand, within the city limits of Dunedin. The town is close to the coast and the mouth of the Waikouaiti River.
Today, Waikouaiti is a retail trade and servicing centre for the surrounding district ...
briefly revived whaling on the island where
Tommy Chaseland (who was of Australian aboriginal descent), with his wife Puna,
Te Matenga Taiaroa's sister, presided over the gang. According to the visiting
Frederick Tuckett
Frederick Tuckett (1807–1876) was a New Zealand surveyor, explorer and New Zealand Company agent. He was born in Frenchay, Gloucestershire, England in about 1807. He surveyed Nelson and Dunedin
Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second- ...
, "nowhere, perhaps, do twenty Englishmen reside on a spot so comfortless as this naked inaccessible isle".
See also
*
List of islands of New Zealand
*
List of islands
This is a list of the lists of islands in the world grouped by country, by continent, by body of water
A body of water or waterbody (often spelled water body) is any significant accumulation of water on the surface of Earth or another plane ...
*
Desert island
A desert island, deserted island, or uninhabited island, is an island, islet or atoll that is not permanently populated by humans. Uninhabited islands are often depicted in films or stories about shipwrecked people, and are also used as stereot ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moturata Taieri Island
Uninhabited islands of New Zealand
Islands of Otago
Whaling stations in New Zealand
Taieri River