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Home »Visitor Information »New Zealand Regions »Marlborough History

Marlborough, New Zealand - History

Marlborough | Regional Information | Activity Highlights | Scenic Highlights | History

Marlborough is New Zealand's largest grape-growing and wine-making region, and has offered safe harbour to travellers for centuries.

Featured Tourism Operators in Marlborough

Marlborough History Overview

For centuries, Marlborough has offered safe harbour to travellers. First to Maori traders and war parties; then to European explorers, such as Captain James Cook and Dumont D'Urville; and now to visitors seeking new landscapes and rejuvenating experiences.

Image Source: Tourism New Zealand. Sailing Marlborough Sounds, Marlborough, New Zealand

Sailing Marlborough Sounds
Marlborough, New Zealand
Photographer Ivor Wilkins
(ivorw@xtra.co.nz)

If you arrive in the region by sea or air, the intricate detail of the Marlborough Sounds engages your interest immediately. Maori legend describes the entire South Island as Maui's waka (canoe), wrecked on a reef during a fishing expedition. The shattered bow of the canoe became the Sounds.

D'Urville Island

At the outer edges of the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand's fifth largest land mass offers a quiet sanctuary from the modern world.

Large areas of ancient native forest provide an attractive setting for hiking. Sweeping views across the surrounding ocean and Marlborough Sounds reward those who climb to the peaks. Free from most mammalian predators, the island has plenty of birdlife and the dawn chorus is particularly memorable.

The island is named after the French explorer, Admiral Jules Cesar Dumont D'Urville. He came close to losing his ship, the Astrolabe, as he navigated the treacherous currents that sweep through French Pass between the island and the mainland.

Pelorus Bridge

Image Source: Tourism New Zealand. Wairau Plain wineries, Marlborough, New Zealand

Wairau Plain Winery
Marlborough, New Zealand
Photographer: Ian Trafford
(www.iantraffordphotos.com)

Halfway between Blenheim and Nelson, where a bridge crosses the Pelorus River, there is a beautiful scenic reserve that has some of the most accessible examples of mature native forest in the Marlborough region.

The valley was the site of a massacre of the Ngati Kuia and Ngati Apa tribes by the Maori chief Te Rauparaha, who came from the North Island coast, west of Wellington.

The first Europeans to arrive in 1843 found a few remaining Maori people producing flax for Te Rauparaha. The original route to Nelson went through the reserve site and over the Maungatapu Saddle. Later, the path that the road follows today was discovered, and a bridge was built across the Pelorus River around 1860.

The Pelorus Bridge location was set aside for a future township, but in the early 1900s this was changed to preserve the area's natural beauty. The present bridge was built in the 1950s.

The story of Tuhirangi, otherwise known as Pelorus Jack

Tuhirangi was the taniwha who guided Kupe's ship from Hawaiki, the ancestral home of the Maori people. On arrival in Aotearoa, Tuhirangi took up residence in the dangerous waters at Te Au-miti (French Pass). He lives in a cave known as Kaikaiawaro.

In the late 19^th century, a white dolphin frequented a stretch of water just north of French Pass. The dolphin regularly met and accompanied passing ships. Maori people naturally recognised the dolphin as Tuhirangi, while the European settlers called it Pelorus Jack.