 From as early as the
twelfth century the sheltered coastal bays of Marlborough supported a small Maori
population. Maori in the region lived by fishing and cultivating crops.
In 1770, Captain James Cook was the first to explore the area and sixty
years later, the first Europeans arrived and set up a number of whaling stations. At first
Maori in the region and the European settlers co-existed, but with the arrival of the New
Zealand Company in 1840 and its subsequent land purchases on behalf of Nelson settlers,
conflict sparked.
The early history of Marlborough was closely linked with the settlement
at Nelson. However, the people of Marlborough demanded independence from Nelson and
nineteen years after the original Nelson settlement, this request was approved and
Marlborough became a separate province in 1859.
In the early 1860s, gold was discovered in Marlborough, swelling the
region's population. However, the boom did not last long. Gold-mining soon became
unsustainable and the development of pastoral farming began to provide the region with its
greatest long-term benefits. During this period, Marlborough settlers developed huge sheep
runs, rivalling neighbouring Canterbury's sheep stations in size.
Today Marlborough's economy continues to be rural based, with pastoral
and horticultural farming providing a major source of income. The region continues to
utilise its marine resources, with salt production at Lake Grassmere, the country's only
source of salt, plus fishing and marine farming. Wine production has been one of the
fastest growing industries and Marlborough is now one of New Zealand's largest wine
producing regions.
Commercial whaling was also a feature of Kaikoura's early history. One
of the first European settlements in the area was the establishment of a shore whaling
station in 1843, located near the historically important Fyffe House. Other whaling
stations followed, eventually employing more than one hundred men in the Kaikoura
district. With declining whale numbers from the 1850's, many whalers turned to farming,
and descendants of those early pioneers still farm the land here today.
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