LEFT A try pot used at the Weller Bros Whaling Station near this place 1839-1840. The Wellers’ workers caught whales and rendered the blubber down into oil in try pots for two seasons Members of the whaling gang were the first white men to live even temporarily in South Canterbury. RIGHT Looking up towards the viaduct near the Evans St and Wai-iti Rd intersection where the stream runs underground. Photograph courtesy of Roselyn Fauth

Some of the earliest Europeans to arrive in the area were also whalers. Their existence was rough and their work extremely dangerous, a far cry from what we could imagine living in the city today.  

The dutch explorer Abel Tasman is officially recognised as the first European to 'discover' New Zealand in 1642.

The French were among the earlier European settlers in New Zealand, and established a colony at Akaroa in the South Island in 1830s.

Sealers were some of the first Europeans to visit the coastal regions around Timaru in the late 18th century. They were attracted to the area by the abundance of fur seals which they hunted for their valuable pelts. The exact dates of their visits are not well documented.

Europeans of all descriptions came to New Zealand during this time — Dutch, French, Russian, German, Spanish, Portuguese and British, as well as North Americans.

"They encountered a Maori world. Contact was regional in its nature; many Maori had no contact with Europeans. Where contact did occur, Europeans had to work out a satisfactory arrangement with Maori, who were often needed to provide local knowledge, food, resources, companionship, labour and, most important of all, guarantee the newcomers' safety. Maori were quick to recognise the economic benefits to be gained in developing a relationship with these newcomers... . Some Maori joined whaling vessels as crew and Sydney became the most visited overseas destination for Maori." - nzhistory.govt.nz/sealers-and-whalers

In 1839 The Weller Brothers established a whaling station at what is now the corner of Evans St and Wai-iti Rd. Samuel Williams was the leader of this party, and boat steerer and harpooner at the new station. The layout of the land was different from what we could imagine then too.

The whalers described the area of gently undulating, tussock-covered downs cut by watercourse on their way down to a boulder-strewn beach. Between the valleys rose clay loess cliffs, and reefs that extended into the sea providing safe openings for ship protection. North and South lagoons extended far inland, and the only trees were cabbage trees. 

They set up camp near Pohatu-koko stream, which they nicknamed ‘Whaler’s Creek’ (see ‘South Canterbury:  A Record of Settlement’ by Oliver A. Gillespie, 1958, p39). Pohatu-koko shows up on some of the earliest maps of the area, but isn’t as well known today now that it runs underground.

The whalers are also rumoured to have given Caroline Bay its name too. The name first appears in descriptions of the sale by Māori to the Weller brothers of more than one million acres of land on 4 Dec 1839. Some say it was named ‘Caroline’ after the ship that came to pick up the whale oil. The ship "Caroline" regularly dropped anchor after the Weller Brothers of Sydney established a whaling station at Timaru in 1839. According to a newspaper article from the time, the Caroline arrived in Timaru carrying a cargo of whale oil and whalebone. The article also notes that the Caroline had recently returned from a whaling expedition to the southern seas.

"The ship "Caroline" regularly dropped anchor after the Weller Brothers of Sydney established a whaling station at Timaru in 1839. According to a newspaper article from the time, the Caroline arrived in Timaru carrying a cargo of whale oil and whalebone."

"Mr Jahannes C. Anderson, in his “Jubilee History cf South Canterbury” says: ‘‘Joseph Price chief officer of the Harriet, left the boat in December, 1839, and started whaling on his own account at Ikorai, Banks Peninsula. Price shipped in September, 1931, on board the Caroline for a whaling cruise; but whether Caroline Bay was named after this ship, or after another Caroline, a whaler that frequented the coast up till the year 1835, is not known.” Timaru Herald - 12 APRIL 1934, PAGE 6

There is some debate about how the Bay got it's name, as there were other ships named Caroline that frequented the New Zealand coast in the 1800s.

At shore stations, as on whaleships, Maori were soon included in boat crews and were adept boatmen and harpooners. The shore stations' boats pursued right whales, which would enter bays on the high tide and leave them on the ebb. Sperm whaling continued but, as the demand for bone increased, more and more British, Sydney and French vessels turned to right whaling. In 1834 they were joined by the first American right whalers in New Zealand waters.

The whaling industry was short-lived, and the station was abandoned when they were preparing for a third season because the company failed. The men who lived there moved on from their temporary home, and it would be a few more years before Europeans settled permanently in the area. 

 "The French Ship Gustave, Declare, from Have fifteen months out, 1800 barrels black oil; 400 barrels this season at Pegansi Bay and the Tcmaroo Beach." New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 13, 13 September 1842, Page 2 -  New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 13, 13 September 1842, Page 2

New Zealand was opened up to the world by the 35 of whaleship captains. Over four hundred islands in the Pacific were "discovered" and named by American whalemen, and the history of New Zealand is closely connected with the visits of New England whalers. 

Further info

• Harvesting the sea: Sealing 
• Harvesting the sea: Whaling 
• Early Arrivals: New Zealand - Australia's New Frontier
• Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand Visit site run by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage.
• Dictionary of New Zealand Biography  Visit site that contains the life stories of over 3000 New Zealanders. This site run by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage.
• Christchurch City Libraries  Visit the site with a handy range of factsheets on various aspects of New Zealand history.

The Sheltering Place: Yankee Sam of Timaru - whaler, settler, publican (26 Jul 1975). Aoraki Heritage Collection, accessed 23/06/2023, https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/1096

Edinburgh: Edmonston & Douglas, 1878. Very good overall. Color lithograph from 'The Instructive Picture Book' depicting two sperm whales, a whaling long boat between the whales, a waterspout in the middle ground and a whaling ship in the distance. This color lithograph made using a complicated printing method involving wood engraved detail, hand color and color lithography for the sky portion of the print; this is a multi-block color stone lithograph. With 'Antarctic Regions' below the image, and 'Sperm Whale' to the right; Plate LX in the upper right . - antarctic-regions-sperm-whale-antarctic

Map showing the distribution of whales across different seasons in the mid-19th century. Whaling connected Ngāi Tahu to the global economy in the early 19th century, providing new and sometimes mana-enhancing opportunities for trade, employment, and travel. As the whaling industry declined from the 1840s, some whalers (like Edward Weller) proved transient visitors. Many others, like Howell, remained with their families, though most were not as wealthy. Former whalers turned to fisheries, agriculture and trade. Their mixed communities formed the basis for settlements around the southern region such as Timaur's first perminant European resident Samuel Williams (Yankie Sam). Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center, Boston Public Library, CC BY-SA

Sam Williams (1817–1883) arrived at Timaru in 1839 with one of the Weller Brothers whaling gangs that worked from what is now the viaduct area of Caroline Bay. A Samuel Williams is on a crew list for the "Charles and Henry", a whaler that left Edgartown in 1836 bound for the Pacific. Later, after he moved on from Whaling he worked for the Rhodes family on Banks Peninsula. There he told the Rhodes brothers that the area was suitable for grazing sheep. Encouraged by this the Rhodes sought the lease that became Levels, run by George Rhodes.

Farming wasn’t for Sam though. He went to the gold fields of Victoria in 1851. While not successful prospecting, he did marry. Sam, his wife Ann and daughter Rebecca returned to Timaru in 1856. George Rhodes gave him his original cottage at the foot of George Street on the foreshore of Timaru. It was there in 1857 that Sam and Ann’s (Ann Mahoney b 1823 in Cork, Ireland) son William Williams was born - the first European child born in Timaru. A gin case was used as his makeshift cradle.

Moby-Dick Moby-Dick, Herman Melville’s greatest work, was published in. Melville had risen to prominence as a writer of adventure tales based on his own experiences at sea. In January he left Fairhaven, Mass., on the maiden voyage of the whaleship Acushnet. He deserted at Nuka Hiva in the Marquesas Islands, then joined the Australian whaleship Lucy Ann. After a bloodless mutiny the vessel returned to Tahiti. Melville made his way to the neighboring island of Eimeo (present-day Moorea), where he joined his third whaler, the Charles and Henry of Nantucket, Mass. - weekendamerica.publicradio.org

In March 2021 Te Rūnanga o Arowhenua gifted us the priviledge of using the name Pohatu-koko for the new playground, named after the stream running below it. 

LEFT An early map of Timaru in 1860. RIGHT zoomed in area showing the labeled area "Pohatu Koko" next to the "old whaling station". This is where the traffic lights are at the end of Wai-iti Rd, and Evans St. The stream running through the area can be seen above. This stream is now piped under the viaduct at the bottom of Wai-iti Rd, under the playground and out sea at the Benvenue end of the boardwalk.
Courtesy of the National Library. Archives New Zealand/Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga. Christchurch Office. Archives reference: CH1031, BM 245 pt 2, R22668176

The whalers used to draw their water from Whales Creek, but because the tide used to flow into this creek, they would have'to go as far as Nelson Terrace to obtain fresh water from the creek. ... The Whaler Caroline “Supplies to this station were brought by the whaling ship Caroline, and so they bay came to be known as Caroline Bay. This ship had an eventful history. At one tlme it was commanded by Captain Blenkinsopp, who brought the Waiau plains from the Maoris for a cannon. The cannon is mounted on an obelisk in the sware at Blenheim. The Caroline was later bought by John Jones who started a whaling station in Waikouaiti in 1840. The ship was subsequently wrecked at the mouth of the New River, Southland. 
Because of bankruptcy, the whaling station was abandoned, and Dr Edward Shortland, the first man to record his journey on foot from Moeraki to Banks Peninsula in 1844, tells of the sorry sight this whaling station made. He wrote: ‘Many forlorn looking huts were still standing there; which, with casks, rusty iron hoops, and decaying ropes, lying about in all directions, told a tale of the waste and destruction that so often fall on a bankrupt’s property.‘
After the Timaru whaling station closed down," said Mr Vance. “the steersman, Sam Williams, went to work at the Rhodes' whaling station at Red House Bay. Banks Peninsula. Here Sam Williams told George Rhodes of the good sheep country lying to the south and the outcome of this was that the Rhodes Biothers took up all the land between the Pareora and Opihi Rivers and back to the Snowy Ranges. They also bought, the business area of Tirnaru. between North Street and Wai-iti Road and back to Grey Road—806 acres for £800.
Mr William Vance Traces History of Caroline Bay (12 Mar 1957). Aoraki Heritage Collection, accessed 07/06/2023, https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/358 -  aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/358

Captain Blenkinsopp married a Maori woman, the. daughter of a local ; chieftain, and purchased from Te Rauparaha the whole of Wairau Plain. Te Rauparaha repudiated the bargain and the incident had a direct bearing on the Wairau massacre m 1843 which was the beginning of the wars between Maori and pakeha. - paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/Captain+Blenkinsopp

Joseph, George and Edward Weller are immortalised in the folk song “Soon May the Wellerman Come” - circa 1850-1860.

“The song’s lyrics describe a whaling ship called the “Billy o’ Tea” and its hunt for a right whale. The song describes how the ship’s crew hope for a “wellerman” (an employee of the Weller brothers, who owned ships that brought provisions to New Zealand whalers) to arrive and bring them supplies of luxuries, with the chorus stating “soon may the wellerman come, to bring us sugar and tea and rum.” According to the song’s listing on the website New Zealand Folk Song, “the workers at these bay-whaling stations (shore whalers) were not paid wages, they were paid in slops (ready-made clothing), spirits and tobacco.” In the whaling industry in 19th-century New Zealand, the Weller brothers owned ships that would sell provisions to whaling boats. The chorus continues with the crew singing of their hope that “one day when the tonguin’ is done we’ll take our leave and go.” “Tonguing” in this context refers to the practice of cutting strips of whale blubber to render into oil. Subsequent verses detail the captain’s determination to bring in the whale in question, even as time passes and multiple whaling boats are lost in the struggle. In the last verse, the narrator describes how the Billy o’ Tea is still locked in an ongoing struggle with the whale, with the wellerman making a “regular call” to encourage the captain and crew. - denelecampbell.com/more-than-meets-the-ear/

 Section on the map showing the Pohatu-koko stream.

Caroline Bay in 1890. Crowd on the beach at Caroline Bay, Timaru, circa 1890. Bathing machines are by the surf. Perhaps this is the stream at the left. Photograph taken by William Ferrier. - National Library. Tiaki Reference Number: PAColl-4746-02

Whales Creek Railway Viaduct at the foot of Wai-iti Rd and Evans Street, Timaru, New Zealand, 1904-1915, Timaru, by Muir & Moodie. Purchased 1998 with New Zealand Lottery Grants Board funds. Te Papa (PS.001051) 

Looking south over Caroline Bay from north of the Tennis Courts, c1933. Pohatu-koko stream can be seen to the left, running over the sandy bay. The cars are parked where the playground and tennis courts currently are today. Courtesy of South Canterbury Museum 0076.

The rustic bridge Caroline Bay Timaru circa 1915.  Pictures several children on and around the bridge, part of the walkway leading to the Caretaker's Cottage and Tea Rooms on the Bay (in the background). - South Canterbury Museum  2015/150.02 

The Tennis Courts Caroline Bay. Timaru. FW Hutton and Co. Timaru. Looking across the tennis courts at Caroline Bay, Timaru showing men playing doubles, houses (left and rear); woman seated (right foreground). Auckland Libraries Heritage Images Collection

1910 Scene at Caroline Bay, Timaru, near the beach with [bowling green ?] And a cropped in image, where you can see Pohatukoko Whales Creek and a bridge. The Press Collection, Alexander Turnbull Librar Tiaki IRN: 692896. Tiaki Reference Number: 1/1-008906-G. Collection: PA-Group-00103: The Press (Newspaper) :Negatives692896. Tiaki Reference Number: 1/1-008906-G. Collection: PA-Group-00103: The Press (Newspaper) :Negatives

Looking north along Caroline Bay, Timaru. Showing The Pavilion (centre). Over the roof of the Pavilion is the Midland Dairy Company's Palm Butter factory and to its left is Evans Street, with tennis courts beside. A train stretches across the picture from the left. Auckland Libraries Heritage Images Collection

 1947 - View to the south Canterbury town of Timaru with Caroline Bay with Evans Street in foreground looking south over the CBD and outer suburbs. You can see the stream running to the sea. Aerial photograph taken by Whites Aviation. Tiaki IRN: 720135. Tiaki Reference Number:: WA-06402-F - PA-Group-00080: Whites Aviation Ltd: Photographs

It is interesting to see the changes to the coastline. This rapidly changed when the new harbour was built.

Refernce to the "old native huts" at the foot of Wai-iti Rd intersection See map here 

Early Timaru Book by F. G.. Hall-Jones. Cover and inside page: North Street to Maori Reserve. After A. Wills, 1848 (re-worded). An old map gives Pohatukoko, the same name as the northernAn old map gives Pohatukoko, the same name as the northernreef at the harbour, at the head of the bay on the site ofthe old native huts shown on Wills's map.

"Caroline Bay: It is almost certain that Caroline Bay, the Caroline Har~bour of Golok's sale in 1839, took its name from the whalingbarque owned by the Sydney firm of R. Campbell and Company.She was probably the first at Timaru of the manywhaling ships which engaged in bay whaling round the NewZealand coast. Blenkinsopp, of Port Underwood, CloudyBay, was her captain in the early 'thirties, and in 1834 heshipped in her several escaped convicts at Sydney for his shorestation. Later captains were Cherry, who was killed by theMaoris near Mana Island, and James Bruce. The Carolineis mentioned more than once as cruising for sperm whales.In 1837 she was purchased by John Jones, who was then livingin Sydney and who had several shore stations from Waikouaitito Preservation Inlet. She was possibly the sameCaroline as the 400-ton barque wrecked at New River Headson April 1, 186o. This barque had been purchased by Jones,C~rgill and Company, who intended to convert her into a storeship at lnvercargill.The try-pot now at Caroline Bay was found, encrustedwi~h shells and barnacles, by Mr. A. Bennett in the shinglea little to the south of Patiti Point, where presumably a whalehad once been brought ashore. Mr. Bennett used it for manyyears as a watering trough in his yard at Patiti. It then wentto Sutherlands and was eventually secured by CouncillorMathers and placed at the bay.The Maori name is preserved in a jotting by Mantell in1848, "Te Kaio tauraka in Caroline Bay", (Kaio, probablythe ngaio tree; tauranga, an anchorage or a place of abode.)An old map gives Pohatukoko, the same name as the northernreef at the harbour, at the head of the bay on the site ofthe old native huts shown on Wills's map."

The Harbour: Mantell gives us Tauamotu as the original name. Oneof the many meanings of tau is " to lie at anchor or moorings".Motu is anything isolated, such as an island or aclump of trees, and is applicable at Timaru to the separate orisolated reefs and rocks. The curved reef at No. 2 wharf wasPohatukoko (pohatu, rock; koko, a spoon) ; · the variation ofOhatukoro might have some association with Atu Koro, aMaori diety, Koro being the son of Hina. The reef at themain wharf is Taumatu in Wills's map and Tauamatu in theofficial map, the ·second version being suspiciously like Mantell'sTauamotu. Both reefs are now covered by reclamation.Te Awa a Motu could be either the channel between thereefs or the stream at Strathallan Street, or both (awa, a streamor channel).

On the southern boundary of the reserve:, now covered by Virtue Avenue, was a stream, Te Aw~ a Rakaitauwheke.In it was a permanent waterhole, from which both Maori andpakeha had the righ~ to. dra""'. ~ater, named Ponuiahine.Turned into syllables 1t might signify the great cosmic nio-htof the goddess Hina, ~ut ~ore naturally it preserves the na~eof Ponuiahine, a ma1d~n 11:1 the Mangarara canoe which bytradition brought certa_m lizards, dogs, birds and insects toNew Zealand. On arnval she accompanied her father to an· sland where he removed the tapu from the animals. Not~avin~ her eyes veiled she beheld the Mohorangi, the magicdog of Tarawhata, and during the incantations she was turnedinto a grasshopper, and later into a rock in the sea.The Benvenue cliffs recall the tragic shipwreck.

Maori Park: The original name, which is preserved in an abbreviatedand corrupted form in Te Weka Street, was Te Upokoa Te Rakaitauwheke. The last part is the name of a famouschief of the Ngaitahu tribe who rallied his men in a desperatebattle further north and led them to victory. Either heor a descendant of the same name at one time Jived at thisspot. He sh?uld r:ot be confused with Rakaitauneke, a chiefof the opposing tnbe, who fought many a valiant battle andrventually died near lnvercargill and was buried at Bluff Hill.Upoko means usually the head, but also the upper part as ofa field, and the l~tter seems applicable here. The name ~ouldmean the upper field of th~ named chief. Wheke mans octopus,and the Foveau~ Strait oystermen speak of the feggies.Wheketoro, or Creepmg Octopus, was the captain of the Mangararacanoe.

- EARLY TIMARU, F. G. HALL- JONES TIMARU, F. G. HALL- JONES

1856 Map of the Province of Canterbury, Archives New Zealand. When you zoom in over Timaru, you can see the reserve for the township and Caroline Bay.  Item reference: AGCO 8368 IA36 4/12 (R22420403)

The earliest European reference to Tlmaru as such occurs in the whaling jour- nals of 1839 where it was described as “Ternurdu.” The first mention of “Caroline” occurs in mem- orials concerning the sale of land by the Maoris to the Weller Brothers in 1&39, when the Bay was ap- parently described as “Caroline Harbour." That the name "Timaru" was applied to the whole Bay is shown by an official notice in the Lyttelton Times of October 22. 1851, concerning “land which is to be laid off as a town at Timaru Bay."

One of the earliest references to the name "Caroline Bay" is on a 1868 chart of New Zealand by James Wyld Sr. (1790-1836) was a British cartographer and one of Europe's leading mapmakers. “Caroline Bay and Pateti Pt & Rf.” are shown just north and south of 'l‘imaru township.