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DOC Wellington Kāpiti heritage

Department of Conservation heritage material can help distinguish archaeological remains, historic structures, island management and conservation values. The surviving remains of shore whaling are especially important because physical evidence can test or qualify later written accounts.

Heritage site index

A surviving building links two eras

The Department of Conservation identifies The Whare as the oldest building on Kāpiti Island and the oldest building associated with nature conservation in New Zealand. It is thought to date from the early 1860s, when it served as a homestead for the McLean family during the island’s farming period.

After the government purchased much of the island for conservation in 1897, the building became accommodation for caretakers. Richard Henry, who arrived in 1908, lived there for three years. The same structure therefore connects pastoral use, early wildlife management and the later scientific and conservation presence on Kāpiti.

DOC also preserves historic whaling trypots on the island. These different artefacts should not be treated as contemporary: the trypots relate to the earlier industrial fishery, while The Whare belongs to the subsequent farming and conservation periods.

From whaling ground to conservation landscape

Kāpiti Island’s later conservation history sits upon a much older history of occupation, trade, shipping and shore whaling. Archaeological features preserve traces of working stations even where the timber buildings have disappeared.

A landscape with multiple records

Historical charts, place-name accounts, archaeological surveys and conservation publications each illuminate different aspects of the island. Prickett’s survey documents whaling remains, while iwi and hapū histories are essential for the longer cultural landscape.

Explore connected books

Explore connected history