Butler Point Whaling Museum

Butler Point Whaling Museum is located at Hihi, near Mangonui[1] in New Zealand’s Doubtless Bay, a centre for whaling fleets in the 1820s–1850s.[2]

A restored whaling boat at Butler Point

The museum comprises the house built in the 1840s by early settler William Butler,[3] an earlier Church Missionary Society house from the Waimate Mission moved to the site by Butler, both fitted with original furniture, and a recently built whaling museum, with a restored fully equipped whaling boat, tryworks, a collection of harpoons, models, scrimshaw and artefacts from the whalers who called into Doubtless Bay, including Charles W. Morgan. There are also substantial gardens and grounds surrounding the museum, including a 10.9 metre circumference pohutukawa tree, claimed to be the world's largest. The owners and curators, a retired ophthalmologist and his wife, live in the grounds.

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Butler Point Whaling Museum". Radio New Zealand 2017. Country Life. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
  2. ^ "Butler Point Whaling Museum". Lonely Planet. Lonely Planet Ltd. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
  3. ^ "Pre-1839 foreigners in NZ Capt William Butler". Pre-1839 foreigners in NZ. Retrieved 23 June 2017.

34°59′03″S 173°32′11″E / 34.9841°S 173.5365°E / -34.9841; 173.5365