The Tuia Mātauranga GeoTour is about having fun discovering the history of Aotearoa New Zealand by finding sites of significance in local communities from early Pacific voyaging and migration, European settlement to present day. The interaction between people, and people and the land have provided a rich history that the GeoTour invites you to explore.
No headstone marks his grave, no street bears his name, no avenue or market square, no tablet or memorial preserves his memory, his very identity has become confused with others of the same name who came afterwards.’
F.G. Hall-Jones, Kelly of Inverkelly, 1944
In March of 1856 John Kelly then 56, moored his boat in the little stream off the Waihopai Estuary called Otarewa (currently called the ‘Otepuni’ or ‘the puni’). He built a rough whare, brought his wife and children and in doing so became the first European settler of the future Invercargill.
John Kelly was born in Newcastle, England, in 1800. At the age of 16 he was sent to Australia as a convict for stealing 16 yards of cloth worth 30 shillings, after serving his time he joined sealers and travelled to the south of New Zealand.
John spent most of 1824 on Codfish Island where he set himself up as a resident sealer and trader with the local Ngāi Tahu. It is believed that while on Codfish Island he married a local Māori woman of chiefly status named Kuikui, While this relationship wasn’t to last, due to Kelly’s revelry and drinking, they had a son together who was adopted by Kuikui’s second husband.
From 1825 Kelly based himself on Ruapuke Island plying the southern coast. He lived just outside the Island village with another Ngāi Tahu woman Hine Tuhawaiki (thought to be the niece of Te Whakataupuka and sister of the warrior chief Tuhawaiki – refer to TMGT – Ruapuke). It is thought that Kelly had had three Ngāi Tahu ‘wives’ between 1824 and 1844, with Hine Tuhawaiki being the main wife (It was Ngāi Tahu custom to have more than one wife and the sealers, whalers and European settlers willingly accepted this custom). By 1844 John had 5 children (1 with Kuikui, 2 with unknown third wife (died in childbirth) and 2 with Hine) and was officially married by Bishop Selwyn to Hine, who passed away about 1848 after an unknown illness.
Kelly married Christian (Christina), whom he had met in Dunedin on a trading trip, in 1850. Five years later in 1855 Kelly shifted his family to Bluff where he had an established garden and stockyard. A year later Kelly moved his family to the rough whare and what became the future location of Invercargill. It was here that Māori, seafarers of England and immigrant settler’s mingled to constitute the beginnings of Invercargill.
Kelly became famed for being the first European settler of Invercargill and one of the first in Southland, but surprisingly he has no road, street, place, building or landmark named after him.
This Multi cache will take you around the 'Seaward Bush' property owned by John and his wife Christian (Christina) on his death in 1856 (possibly due to cancer). Starting at the posted co-ordinates, make your way around the stages collecting the necessary information the lamp posts. Final co-ordinates are ... S46° 2A.BCD E168° 2E.FGH
Posted Co-ordinates: 5th digit minus 1st = A
Stage 2: 6th digit minus 2nd = B
Stage 3: 4th digit minus 3rd = C
Stage 4: 5th digit minus 6th minus 2nd = D
Stage 5: 5th digit minus 2nd = E
Stage 6: What is the address number? divide this number by last 2 digits (of address) this givens you H and G (H.GGGGGGGGGH)
and lastly: H plus E = F
To be able to complete this Geotour and receive your special geocoin, remember to take a note of the codeword on the log book of the cache. This will need to be recorded in your passport which can be downloaded from here. If the passport is unavailable for any reason just keep a note of the codeword and try again later.