Whale Tales & Trails Hunt

At the cry of ‘There she blows!’ gangs of whalers took to the waters. Whale oil, baleen, ambergris and bone were valuable commodities, but many men also hunted whales for the thrill of the chase. Whaling was dangerous. Harpooned whales could thrash and roll, damaging boats or dragging them under, sometimes with fatal consequences.

Although the whale pots are a stark reminder of a once brutal industry, they are also valuable historical artefacts. Standing before them connects you with a defining chapter of Timaru’s past, helping to acknowledge its history, understand how it has impacted and helped to shape the community we are today, and ensure these stories are shared with future generations.

As you explore Timaru’s coastline, you may come across cast iron whale pots that are both special and significant. These relics connect us to a defining period in the 1839 to 1840s when shore-based whaling took place along this part of the coast. While the whaling industry continued for longer in Otago, Canterbury and other parts of New Zealand, Timaru’s involvement, though brief, was meaningful.

At the time, Māori communities were already well established in the area. The arrival of whalers may have marked the first contact between Māori and non-Māori in this region. These early encounters contributed to the cultural and social changes that followed and are part of the foundations of Timaru’s colonial history. For some, their ancestors were whalers. They married into hapū and successfully brought up their families.

The whale pots were used to boil down blubber into oil for lamps and soap. Their presence today offers a direct connection to the lives and labour of the early European whalers who worked along these shores.

Timaru’s whaling activity came to an end when the Weller Brothers’ business failed. Yet its legacy remains. One of the whalers chose to settle in Timaru with his family, and their son became the first registered European birth in the Timaru District. This moment marks a turning point in the story of settlement in the region and reflects how even a short period of activity can have lasting significance.

TIMARU INFORMATION CENTRE
1 George Street, Timaru

In the 1840s, the Rhodes brothers used a former whaling site to land goods. They gave the small cottage on the beach to former whaler Samuel Williams, where he raised his family. His son William Williams was born there, his cradle was a gin crate. This marked the shift from seasonal whaling to permanent settlement—whaling laid the groundwork for the town to grow.

 Can you find the plaque for Timaru's first European house on the Landing Services Buildings East wall?

In this photo you can see the boat launch at the foot of George Street, the Landings Service Building and beside, in the center the Rhodes cottage. Section from Hocken Snapshop hocken.recollect.co.nz/24023

SOUTH CANTERBURY MUSEUM

Perth Street, Timaru

The first whaling ship, from America, came to New Zealand waters in 1791. Over the next 10 years, the seas around New Zealand became a popular place to catch whales. There were plenty of them, and New Zealand provided safe waters and a place to stock up on food and wood. A lot of American and French whalers arrived in the 1830s.

WILMOTTS CARPARK
Sophia Street, Timaru

Whales rely on plankton for food—tiny floating plants and animals. Southern right whales, once hunted off Timaru’s coast, thrived in these plankton-rich waters.

KATHMANDU ROOF TOP CARPARK
The Terrace, Timaru


Even today, whales travel along our coast. Southern right whales and humpbacks migrate past Timaru. In 2019, locals helped rescue a stranded whale here—it made it safely back to sea!

Whaling led to a steep decline in whale numbers… some species came close to extinction. Whaling is now banned in New Zealand and most countries. Whales are legally protected.

This is a photo of a section of a mural created by Koryu, called Breath of Life.

Hunting whales in New Zealand waters was made illegal in 1978. Today, people enjoy watching whales, rather than catching them. All marine mammals within New Zealand's 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone are protected under the 1978 Marine Mammals Protection Act and New Zealand is recognised as a world leader in marine mammal protection.

CAROLINE BAY PLAYGROUND
1 Virtue Ave, Timaru

Weller Bros Whaling Station near this place 1839-1840

The first recorded shipment from Timaru was 70 tun (66,780 L) of oil was exported from Caroline Bay in 1839.1 tun = 8 barrels. A wine tun is 252 gallons.

 

Graphic Illustrations of Animals print coloured lithograph The Whale by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins c1850 Plate XIII from the volume Graphic Illustrations of Animals showing their utility to man in their service 2

Graphic Illustrations of Animals-print. coloured lithograph The Whale by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins c1850 Plate XIII from the volume Graphic Illustrations of Animals showing their utility to man in their service. sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/graphic-illustrations-of-animals-prints-lithographs 

This print, made around 1850, illustrates the process of whale hunting and the many different ways whale parts were used in everyday life. It features small titled scenes showing activities such as unsuccessfully harpooning a whale, cutting off blubber, and using whale oil to light lamps and lighthouses. Other scenes show how whale by-products were used in commerce, manufacturing, agriculture, and even fashion—for example, whalebone was used in umbrella spokes and women’s dress frames. Two of the most valuable substances highlighted are spermaceti, found in the sperm whale’s head, and ambergris, found in its digestive system. Both were used in perfumes and cosmetics, while spermaceti also made high-quality candles. Everyday uses included lamp oil and agricultural fertilizer. The print is part of a larger collection published by Thomas Varty that explored how humans exploited animals, and it was illustrated by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, a natural history artist best known for his famous dinosaur sculpture

CAROLINE BAY VIADUCT
Wai-iti Rd / Caroline Bay Viaduct

Weller Bros Whaling Station near this place 1839-1840. A try pot stands here as a reminder of the past. The area was called Pohatu-Koko (later Whales Stream), and old maps even show whaling huts. The cauldron was used to boil the blubber of whales down to extract the oil. Large cast-iron trypots were used at sea on the ship’s deck, and shore whalers built fires on the beach.

Try pots were big iron cauldrons used to boil whale blubber into oil. The word ‘try’ comes from the old word ‘to try out’—meaning to extract or render fat. The blubber or fat was cut off the dead whale, then thrown into large metal pots and boiled down to make oil.

1839 The Weller Brothers, prominent Sydney-based whalers, establish a shore whaling station at Pātītī Point (Timaru). This marks the first European presence in South Canterbury. Falling whale numbers and financial issues force the Wellers to wind down operations.The Timaru station is abandoned, and the brothers eventually go bankrupt.

70 tun (66,780 L) of oil was exported from Caroline Bay in 1839.1 tun = 8 barrels. A wine tun is 252 gallons.

Just think for a moment, as you touch it or look at it, that this pot was here at the Bay was the time of the Treaty of Waitango. Whalers set out from this shore in long boats powered by, men with oars, and hand-launched harpoons on board into the sea. This old iron cauldron once bubbled with smoking, pungent whale oil.

The Wellers established a number of shore stations along this east coast. The whales came in large numbers to give birth to their young in the warm current which flows along this coast. Here they launched the whaleboats and laneded carcasses of the whales that they managed to harpoon. Joseph Price had moved his shore station to Banks Peninsula, and in 1840 the Wellers gathered up their gear and moved to Otakou, on what is now known as the Otago Peninsula. They left behind a number of trypots of which this trypot is one.

PĀTĪTĪ POINT RESERVE
South Street, Pātītī Point, Timaru

Tripots were used by whalers to render whale blubber.  It was also used on the Sutherlands farm before being placed at this site.

Can you sing the Weller man sea shanty? The viral popularity of the sea shanty "The Wellerman" sparked renewed interest in New Zealand's era of shore-based whaling. The song references the Weller Brothers, who operated one of the most prominent whaling stations at Ōtākou, near present-day Dunedin. Their business was central to the whaling economy of the southern Pacific and deeply intertwined with local Māori communities, many of whom worked at or near these stations and engaged in trade and kinship ties with European whalers. Remarkably, the world of the Wellerman reached far beyond Aotearoa: in 1842, Herman Melville, the future author of Moby-Dick, briefly worked aboard a Weller-operated whaling ship. For that brief time, the literary giant was literally a "Weller man," linking the cultural mythology of the Pacific whaling frontier with one of the most enduring works of American literature. While Timaru wasn’t the Weller Brothers’ central hub, it was part of their broader South Island whaling network, and likely saw regular activity from their crews and partners.

photos 228958 extralarge

The trying-down pots: a busy scene at Te Kaha Whaling Station. 1919-12-11 photo published in Auckland Weekly News; Pahewa, H, showing Whale blubber being heated in try pots at the Te Kaha Whaling Station to extract the oil. - https://kura.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/digital/collection/photos/id/228958 This item is suitable for commercial use, without further permission.

nlnzimage Tuhawaiki Point Timaru

Tuhawaiki Point 1958. Electronic reproduction of Land Information New Zealand original. University of Auckland, 2014. National Library
Rights: This image may be used, copied and re-distributed free of charge in any format or media. Where the image is redistributed to others the following acknowledgement note should be shown : "Sourced from LINZ. Crown Copyright reserved."

Corner of Taiko, Claremont and Fairview Roads, west of Timaru. This intersection is known as 'Whalebones Corner'. Ever thought, if I stuck some whale bones near my house, it would make it easier to find? Worn by weather for over 100 years, you can see the remnants of four whale bones which were brought out from the whaling station on Caroline Bay about 1870. Mr John Machintoch, who built the house on the farm Kingsborough about the tome instructed John Webster to collect the bones on a dray and to place them a the intersection so the visitors could be easily directed to Kingsborough. Since then, this intersection has always been known as The Whalebones Corner. (Take care is stopping here and park well away from the intersection).

Subcategories

Legacy of Yankie Sam

Legacy of William Williams