page_title: Otago Harbour
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Otago Harbour / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Otakou marae, Otago Peninsula, New Zealand. Buildings built 1940-1945. The building in the top left is Otakou Maori Memorial Methodist Church, New Zealand Historic Places Trust Register number 5177.
context_page_description: Otago Harbour is the natural harbour of Dunedin, New Zealand, consisting of a long, much-indented stretch of generally navigable water separating the Otago Peninsula from the mainland. They join at its southwest end, 21 km from the harbour mouth. It is home to Dunedin's two port facilities, Port Chalmers and at Dunedin's wharf. The harbour has been of significant economic importance for approximately 700 years, as a sheltered harbor and fishery, then deep water port.
context_section_description: Maori first arrived at Otago Harbour in the 1300s, soon after they first settled in New Zealand. Being too far south for the cultivation of sweet potato they adopted a hunter gather society. This initially involved sealing and fishing the harbour, drifting more towards the latter as seal stocks diminished. This time in the history of the harbour is recorded in place names such as Kamau Taurua (Quarantine Island), which means "a place where nets are set".
caption: Otakou, the center of fishing and trade on the harbour for centuries.
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