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 sout ...

in southern New Zealand. It is connected to the mainland by a sandy causeway at low tide. Taieri-Willana2

The island is a nature reserve, and is home to many protected seabirds, notably

yellow-eyed penguin The yellow-eyed penguin (''Megadyptes antipodes''), known also as hoiho or tarakaka, is a species of penguin endemic to New Zealand. Previously thought closely related to the little penguin (''Eudyptula minor''), molecular research has shown it ...

s. 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 Taieri Mouth is a small fishing village at the mouth of the Taieri River, New Zealand. Taieri Island (Moturata) lies in the ocean several hundred metres off the river's mouth. It has a white sand beach for swimming and several picnic areas. Mot ...

. 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 A ...

(Murdering Beach) near the Otago Heads, 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 (180 ...

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 schoo ...

''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 distri ...

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 secon ...

, "nowhere, perhaps, do twenty Englishmen reside on a spot so comfortless as this naked inaccessible isle".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moturata Taieri Island Uninhabited islands of New Zealand Islands of Otago Whaling stations in New Zealand Taieri River

History

See also

References