Memento of Kaikoura’s whaling days

Press, 7 January 1983, Page 7

Memento of Kaikoura’s whaling days

People, often running late for the Picton ferry, tend to drive helter-skelter through Kaikoura, or pause only long enough for a quick cup of tea. It is worth allowing time for a longer stop at Kaikoura to visit the Fyffe House, a simple colonial cottage which can take visitors back to Kaikoura’s beginnings as a whaling station. Do people from Christchurch apreciate that Kaikoura is the older town?

The Kaikoura Peninsula appealed to the Maori as a place to live and there are remains of a pa and other settlements on the peninsula itself and elsewhere in the district. The name is a clue — “kai” means food and “koura” crayfish. Being able to buy fresh -caught crayfish from roadside stalls is still an attraction to the traveller through the district.

The peninsula first attracted Europeans as a spot from which to sight and catch whales. In 1842, Kaikoura’s first European settler, Robert Fyffe, set up a shore-based whaling station in what is now Fyffe Cove. In 1854, Robert was joined by George, a cousin fresh from Scotland.

George soon found himself coping on his own with running a whaling station in a strange new country, for Robert was drowned while sailing between Welling-

ton and Kaikoura a few months after George's arrival.

It was George Fyffe who, in anticipation of, or very soon after his marriage at the beginning of 1860, built today’s Fyffe House. He probably enlarged it soon afterwards, but by as early as 1863, the house looked

almost exactly as it still does today. “Fyffe’s Village” was once the social and commercial centre of Kaikoura; later it moved round to where it is today, leaving the Fyffe House in a rural setting of grassy slopes and open water.

It was George Fyffe who, in anticipation of, or very

soon after his marraige at the beginning of 1960, built today’s Fyffe House. He probably enlarged it soon afterwards, but by as early as 1863, the house looked almost exactly as it still does today. “Fyffe’s Village” was once the social and commercial centre of Kaikoura; later it moved round to where it is

today, leaving the Fyffe House in a rural setting of grassy slopes and open water.

The house was left to the Historic Places Trust in 1980 by George Low, who had been brought up there and lived all his life in it. The Trust is gradually restoring

the house and trying to make it look again, inside and out, much as it would have when George and Katherine Fyffe began their short married life in it (both died in the late 1860 s).

The Fyffe House is at 62 Avoca Street, on the road from the town of Kaikoura

towards the seal colony. L can be reached by driving along the Esplanade, on past the Youth Hostel and the Marine Laboratory. The house is open daily to visitors, except on Christmas Day and Good Friday. Because it is the curator’s home it is not open at regular hours like other Historic Places Trust properties. The curator, Mrs D. Harris, and her husband (not to mention the dogs, cats and other members of the household) give visitors a warm, friendly welcome at almost any time of any day. There is a noticeboard in front of the house which indicates whether it is open or, if it is closed (to allow Mrs Harris to go shopping or have a break from visitors), at what time it will re-open. . There is no charge for admission to Fyffe House while the work of restoration is still in progress, but. a donation to help the restoration along will be warmly received.

Apart from the interesting old house itself, there are superb views, of mountains and sea, and lovely picnic spots in the vicinity. There is plenty of space for children to play, so they can be packed back into the car worn-out, giving the adults peace until Picton.

— John Wilson