Otakou

The settlement of Ōtākou lies within the boundaries of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. It is located 25 kilometres from the city centre at the eastern end of Otago Peninsula, close to the entrance of Otago Harbour.

Overview

Though a small fishing village, Ōtākou is important in the history of Otago for several reasons. The name 'Ōtākou' is thought to come from Māori words meaning either "single village" or "place of red earth". Prior to the standardisation of Māori spelling in the 1840s, the name was written as 'Otago', reflecting its pronunciation in a local southern Māori dialect. This prestandardised form was adopted by European settlers as the name for the surrounding area, the Otago region, and is commonly mistaken as a European corruption of 'Ōtākou'.

The name originally referred to the channel off Wellers Rock but was transferred to the lower harbour as a whole, the port, the nearby Māori settlements and the Weller brothers' whaling establishment - one of the region's oldest European settlements, having been founded in 1831. The old Māori names for the Māori settlements were Te Ruatitiko, Tahakopa, Omate and Ohinetu.