Bluff, Southland One Place Study
Location: Bluff, Southland, New Zealand
Surnames/tags: One_Place_Studies Southland
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Bluff, Southland One Place Study
Name
Bluff (Māori: Motupōhue)[1], previously known as Campbelltown and often referred to as "The Bluff", is a town and seaport in the Southland region, on the southern coast of the South Island of New Zealand.
Geography
- Continent: Oceania
- Country: New Zealand
- Region: Southland
- District: Invercargill
- GPS Coordinates: -46.6, 168.333333
- Elevation: 6m
History
The Bluff area was one of the earliest areas of New Zealand where a European presence became established. The first ship known to have entered the harbour was the Perseverance in 1813, in search of flax trading possibilities. It has been claimed that James Spencer settled and built a weatherboard house in 1824 yet this has been long disputed. His son, William Te Paro Spencer, did not support the date nor does Bluff born and raised historian Michael Stevens. Lloyd Esler's 2020 book, Early Days in Foveaux Strait, also reaffirms a date of 1834 or later. John Boultbee claims in his published diary that in 1828 'Old Man's Bluff is abandoned'. Herries Beattie's interview with William Spencer has him recalling either 1833 or 1835 as the date his father settled in Bluff[2]. Bluff held its centenary in March 1937 to retrospectively celebrate 1836-1936. The area did however have regular visits from whalers in the 1820's and 1830's. It was said that the European population in 1835 was three[3]. Bluff itself was not permanent settlement for Maori. There was a small settlement at Ocean Beach. It is also claimed that Ruapuke Island in the Foveaux Strait had a population of up to 2000 at one time. O'Maui (within the present day Bluff ward) had Maori residents in the mid 1800's. Bluff served more often as a stopping point for Maori on their way to the Muttonbird Islands and local Maori asked for lodgings in Bluff for that purpose. Government provided what was locally known as the 'Maori House'.
The whalers and local Maori (who lived at Ruapuke Island) quickly forged relationships and the first marriage in Otago was between James Spencer, who built a whaling station in Bluff, and a local Maori woman, Meri Kauri. They traveled from Bluff to Waikouaiti in 1841 to be married. Many families in the area are descended from whalers and Kai Tahu/Kati Mamoe/Waitaha women.[4]
History recap of shipping and Bluff printed 1893.[5]
The reservoir which is 300ft above the town burst in 1915.[6]
Streets
It was the first town surveyed in Southland by John Turnbull Thomson. His plan for Bluff Town is dated 1 November, 1856.
Twelve of the streets are named for Irish rivers, in honour of James Spencer's homeland. Twenty-four are named for people.
Cemeteries
There are two cemeteries within the Bluff Ward, which extends to Awarua Siding Road. Bluff Cemetery aka Campbelltown Cemetery is the oldest and no longer accepts interments unless space exists in an family plot. Greenpoint Cemetery is the current cemetery located just outside of Bluff.
Buildings
Even though Bluff is an old town it has only two listings on the New Zealand Heritage List, the Club Hotel, and the Sir Joseph Ward Statue. It is, however, not short of buildings of significance.
Due to safety concerns, the Club Hotel was demolished in May 2024. A report was done in 2019 on the history of the building and another report is due by the end in 2024 as part of the demolition process.
Organisations
Various organisations have formed in Bluff. Some still exist today like the Bluff Volunteer Fire Brigade.
Bluff Harbour Board The Board was established in late 1877-1878 to administer the port following the beginning of the regular ferry service to Stewart Island.
Population
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Mayors
Bluff was responsible for its own governance from 1879 until 1989. There were 23 mayors in total.
Councillors
Campbelltown Borough Council and later Bluff Borough Council elections.
Notables
- Sir Joseph George Ward, was a New Zealand politician who served as the 17th prime minister of New Zealand from 1906 to 1912 and from 1928 to 1930.
- Dorothy May De Lany on Wikipedia, first woman president of a trade union in New Zealand
- Peter Arnett (born 13 November 1934) is a New Zealand-born American journalist. He is known for his coverage of the Vietnam War and the Gulf War. He was awarded the 1966 Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting for his work in Vietnam from 1962 to 1965, mostly reporting for the Associated Press. Arnett also worked for National Geographic magazine, and later for various television networks, most notably for nearly two decades at CNN. Arnett published a memoir, Live from the Battlefield: From Vietnam to Baghdad, 35 Years in the World's War Zones (1994). In March 1997, Arnett interviewed Osama bin Laden, leader of Al-Qaeda. The journalism school at the Southern Institute of Technology in New Zealand was named for Arnett.
Sources
- ↑ Motupōhue is the name for Bluff Hill, the town/area known as Bluff did not have a name in Maori but is part of the wider Awarua area
- ↑ https://hocken.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/66171#idx238973
- ↑ https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ST19281003.2.122.3
- ↑ Stevens, Kate. Gathering Places: The Mixed Descent Families of Foveaux Strait and Rakiura/Stewart Island, 1824-1864. 2008. University of Otago. https://ourarchive.otago.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10523/8019/StevensKate2009BAHons.pdf, accessed 22 April 2021
- ↑ https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/SOCR18930610.2.12
- ↑ https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/LT19150123.2.80
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