Te Whanganui / Port Underwood is a sheltered harbour which forms the north-east extension of Te Koko-o-Kupe / Cloudy Bay at the northeast of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

, on the east coast of the

Marlborough Sounds The Marlborough Sounds are an extensive network of sea-drowned valleys at the northern end of the South Island of New Zealand. The Marlborough Sounds were created by a combination of land subsidence and rising sea levels. According to Māori ...

.Wises New Zealand Guide, 7th Edition, 1979. p.457. With only a relatively narrow entrance to the south-south-east it is sheltered from almost all winds. Originally considered part of Cloudy Bay, the port was named after Joseph Underwood of the shipping firm Kabel and Underwood in the early 19th century. There is evidence of a large Māori population at various times prior to European arrival in New Zealand. In the 1820s the local Rangitane were defeated by the

Ngāti Toa Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Toarangatira or Ngāti Toa Rangatira, is a Māori '' iwi'' (tribe) based in the southern North Island and in the northern South Island of New Zealand. Its '' rohe'' (tribal area) extends from Whanganui in the north, Palmerston ...

chief Te Rauparaha. Sealers first visited about 1826 and were followed immediately by whalers.Wises New Zealand Guide, 7th Edition, 1979. p.67.

John Guard John 'Jacky' Guard (ca. 1791/92 – 1857) was an English convict sent to Australia who was one of the first European settlers in the South Island of New Zealand, working as a whaler and trader. Early life Guard was born in London in 1791 or 1792 ...

, who had started a whaling station in Tory Channel the previous year, set up a subsidiary station at Kakapo Bay in 1828. By 1840 there were approximately 150 Europeans in the area, probably the largest concentration in the

at that time. Large numbers of

southern right whale The southern right whale (''Eubalaena australis'') is a baleen whale, one of three species classified as right whales belonging to the genus ''Eubalaena''. Southern right whales inhabit oceans south of the Equator, between the latitudes of 20 ...

s and

humpback whale The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The hu ...

s were hunted in the bay, resulting in destroying these populations and rarities of their sightings in the bay nowadays. On 16 June HMS ''Herald'' arrived with

Major Major ( commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicato ...

Thomas Banbury on board bringing the

Treaty of Waitangi The Treaty of Waitangi ( mi, Te Tiriti o Waitangi) is a document of central importance to the History of New Zealand, history, to the political constitution of the state, and to the national mythos of New Zealand. It has played a major role in ...

for the

chiefs to sign. This took place on Horahora-Kakahu Island just offshore from the eastern shoreline. The only European to sign the Treaty as one of the cedants, Joseph Thomas, son-in-law of Te Rauparaha's elder brother Nohorua, signed on 16 June. Nouhora himself, initially reluctant to sign, did so the following day. A commemorative bronze plaque marking the occasion was unveiled here on 3 October 1964.Wises New Zealand Guide, 7th Edition, 1979. p.149. The name of the harbour was officially altered to Te Whanganui / Port Underwood in August 2014.

Notable people

Ann Boyce Ann Boyce (20 November 1827 – 28 February 1914) was a New Zealand founding mother and herbalist. She was born Ann Cave in Sydney, Australia, on 20 November 1827. In 1837 she came to Port Underwood in Marlborough, New Zealand, with her family. ...

, pioneer and herbalist. * John Jacky Guard (1790/92–1858), landed in Kakapo Bay and was one of the first people to have a non Maori child in the South Island

References

{{Authority control Geography of the Marlborough Region Populated places in the Marlborough Region Ports and harbours of New Zealand Marlborough Sounds Whaling stations in New Zealand Populated places in the Marlborough Sounds