Butler Point Whaling Museum
Encyclopedia
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
’s Doubtless Bay, a centre for whaling
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
fleets in the 1820s-1850s.
The museum comprises the house built in the 1840s by early settler William Butler, an earlier Church Missionary Society house from the Waimate Mission moved to the site by Butler, both fitted with original furniture.and a recently built whaling museum, with a restored fully equipped whaling boat, tryworks, a collection of harpoon
Harpoon
A harpoon is a long spear-like instrument used in fishing to catch fish or large marine mammals such as whales. It accomplishes this task by impaling the target animal, allowing the fishermen to use a rope or chain attached to the butt of the projectile to catch the animal...
s, models, scrimshaw
Scrimshaw
Scrimshaw is the name given to handiwork created by whalers made from the byproducts of harvesting marine mammals. It is most commonly made out of the bones and teeth of sperm whales, the baleen of other whales, and the tusks of walruses...
and artefacts from the whalers who called into Doubtless Bay, including Charles W. Morgan. There are also substantial gardens and grounds surrounding the museum, including a 10.9 metre circumference Pōhutukawa
Pohutukawa
The Pōhutukawa is a coastal evergreen tree in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, that produces a brilliant display of red flowers made up of a mass of stamens. The Pōhutukawa is one of twelve Metrosideros species endemic to New Zealand...
tree, claimed to be the world’s largest. The owners and curators, (a retired ophthalmologist and his wife), live in the grounds.
See also
- Whaling in New ZealandWhaling in New ZealandWhaling in New Zealand dates back to the late 18th century, and ended in 1964 since it was no longer economic. Nineteenth century whaling was based on the southern right whale, and 20th century whaling on the humpback whale...