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Overview
This marine ivory and silver brooch, shaped like a two-flue harpoon, commemorates the whaling station at Te Awaiti in the Tory Channel. This is a significant location in New Zealand’s whaling history, being one of the first places that shore whaling was carried out in the 1820s, and the site of modern whaling in the first half of the twentieth century.
Te Awaiti station was established by John (Jacky) Guard in about 1827, and may have been the first shore whaling station in New Zealand (although the date is disputed). Guard left Te Awaiti in favour of a new station at Kākāpō Bay in 1832 but his second in command James Jackson continued whaling in the area. By 1839 there were three separate stations operating in Te Awaiti – Jackson’s station at nearby Onapopoti (later renamed Jackson’s Bay), and stations run by Richard (Dicky) Barrett and Joseph Thoms.
Although shore whaling declined in the late 1840s, Jackson and his wife Eliza stayed in Jackson’s Bay and raised their nine children there. Jackson ran a coastal trading schooner, and they farmed approximately 40 acres. In the early twentieth century Italian fisherman Joe Perano revived whaling operations in the Tory Channel, establishing a station less that 1km from Te Awaiti Bay in 1924. Whaling was carried out there until 1964, and many of Jackson’s descendants worked for the Perano family.
The brooch commemorates an important place in New Zealand’s whaling history, and links to significant whaling families such as the Guards and the Jacksons. Further research is needed to determine when the brooch was made. It may have been made (or modified) for a family reunion or commemoration, such as the unveiling of a memorial plaque at Te Awaiti in 1971 (see 'Plaque to Whaling,' Press, 19 April 1971).
References:
- Dawber, Carol. 2001. The Jacksons of Te Awaiti. Picton: River Press.
- Grady, Don. 1990. 'Jackson, James Hayter.' Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
- Grady, Don. 1996. 'Perano, Joseph August.' Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
- McSaveney, Eileen. 2007. 'Nearshore islands - Early inhabitants.' Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
- Phillips, Jock. 2006. 'Whaling.' Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
- ---. 1998. 'Jacky Guard and his family.' Te Papa Collections Online Topic.