Otakou

Otakou ( in Māori = The place of red earth ) is a historical Māori settlement, which is located in the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. The settlement is protected on the Otago Peninsula, about 25 km from the city center of Dunedin, close to the Taiaroa Head and access to the Otago Harbour.

History

The sealer John Boultbee was probably the first European who documented the existence of Māori settlements around the Otago Harbour in the 1820s. 1831 then the Weller brothers of Sydney came over and opened on the shores of Otago Harbour, close to the settlement Otakou a whaling station, which became known as Wellers skirt.

On June 13, 1840 a ​​copy of the letter sent by Captain William Hobson and the Thomas Bunbury Treaty of Waitangi was signed in Otakou Marae of the Ngai Tahu.

In July 1844 then the British civil engineer and land surveyor Frederick Tuckett came to the Ngai Tahu after Otakou and bought on behalf of the New Zealand Company 162 acres of land, known as the Otago block, which also included the settlement Otakou, the Ngai Tahu from recommending the area around the Otago Harbour the Scottish settlers of the Free Church of Scotland as a suitable settlement area.

With the arrival of the first Scottish settlers in 1848 in Port Chalmers the first major step to organized colonization around the Otago Harbour and beyond was done. At this time, the settlement Otakou was listed with her ​​in the maps of the settlers. However, it soon turned out that the name Otakou had arisen from the misinterpretation of different Māori dialects. The first Christian missionaries who came to this region, only knew the language of the Māori of the North Island. Thus, the "g" According to a "k " and the " o " sound was considered to be an " ou ".

The settlement Otakou kept her name, but was without being asked for namesake for an entire region. On December 26, 1848, the then governor of the colony in New Zealand, Sir George Edward Grey decided to finally comply with the wishes of the Scottish settlers and for the newly developed residential area, starting from the coast, over Dunedin into the hinterland to award the māorischen name Otago. Ignorance or ignorance had probably led to the attribution, for the Māori name for the same country in their language today Araiteuru ( canoe from Hawaiki ).

The settlement Otakou still exists today and has about 50 residents. It is situated on a hill with a view of the access to the Otago Harbour and Port Chalmers on the opposite side of the Otago Harbour.

In the small settlement is still the Māori church in 1864 by the Reverend Johann Friedrich Riemenschneider ( 1817-1866 ), a German missionary, was built and a marae ( meeting place ) with the Whare Runanga ( meeting house ). From this place one can see that the earth is there red.

Swell

All sources in English

  • AH McLintock, The History of Otago, Otago Centennial Historical Publications, Dunedin, 1949.
  • George Griffiths, Maarire Goodall, Maori Dunedin, Otago Heritage Books, Dunedin, 1980.
  • Peter Entwisle, Behold the Moon, The European Occupation of the Dunedin Destrict 1770-1848, Port Daniel Press, Dunedin, 1998. ISBN 0-473-05591-0
  • Hardwicke Knight: Otago Peninsula - A Local History, Author's Edition, No. 113, signed limited edition of 200 copies, Broad Bay, Otago Peninsula, Dunedin, 1978
  • Thomas Arthur Pybus, Maori and Missionary - Early Christian Missions in the South Iceland of New Zealand, Reed Publishing ( NZ) Ltd, Wellington, 1954..
  • Otakou - Encyclopedia of New Zealand 1966
  • Otakou Marae - Pacific History Association
List of towns in New Zealand Districts of New Zealand Māori language Free Church of Scotland (since 1900) List of Governors-General of New Zealand George Grey
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