The Archaeology of New Zealand Shore Whaling — Nigel Prickett (2002)
Nigel Prickett’s 2002 Department of Conservation report surveys New Zealand shore-whaling archaeology. Its abstract identifies 87 stations and sites with good historical or archaeological evidence, alongside 25 unconfirmed stations. These are the report’s findings, not a new independent WhaleLIBRARY survey.
The research report
The Kāpiti chapter
Chapter 9, beginning on printed page 83, treats Korohiwa, Long Point, Mana, Motungarara, Paremata, Tahoramaurea, Te Kahuoterangi, Te Kopi, Tokomapuna and Waiorua, and identifies additional unconfirmed sites. The chapter is an essential reference for our existing station books.
A rare account book
On printed page 6 Prickett describes Alexander Fraser’s Long Point station accounts for 1840–42, held at the Alexander Turnbull Library. The account book records labour, payments, whaleboats, provisions, buildings and financial returns. This is a promising lead to the underlying primary manuscript, rather than a substitute for it.
Source
Nigel Prickett, The Archaeology of New Zealand Shore Whaling (Department of Conservation, 2002), ISBN 0-478-22208-4. WhaleLIBRARY source copy supplied by the Trust. Consult the original report for site-specific plans, photographs, bibliography and qualifications.
The archaeological record of shore whaling
Nigel Prickett’s The Archaeology of New Zealand Shore Whaling (Department of Conservation, 2002) combines written history with field evidence from the remains of stations. Its national survey distinguishes 87 stations and sites supported by good historical or archaeological evidence from 25 unconfirmed locations. That distinction is crucial: a name appearing in a nineteenth-century account does not automatically establish a station on the ground.
Chapter 9, beginning at printed page 83, deals with the Kāpiti region, including Long Point, Korohiwa, Mana, Motungarara, Tahoramaurea, Te Kahuoterangi, Tokomapuna and Waiorua. Prickett also discusses Alexander Fraser’s 1840–42 Long Point account book, an unusually detailed source for labour, supplies and the economics of station life. The site entries, plans and qualifications should guide the library’s station histories, not be replaced by unsourced summaries.
Using the archaeological synthesis
Prickett’s 2002 study brings archaeological field observations into conversation with Dieffenbach, Wakefield, station returns and later local recollections. The dates and locations of each strand of evidence matter: a twentieth-century survey does not itself turn an earlier anecdote into an eyewitness account.
Source: Nigel Prickett, “The Archaeology of New Zealand Shore Whaling” (2002), pp. 83–97.
Follow this history into other books
Continue with these connected accounts. Each opens a separate book with its own evidence and perspective.