The early timber cottage known as Nikau Cottage at 130 Rue Jolie in Akaroa, is the last survivor of a group of three colonial worker dwellings. Its date of construction is not certain – it appears to have been built in the mid nineteenth century, possibly around 1870. It has aesthetic, archaeological, historical and cultural significance. Akaroa Harbour is a large, long harbour on the southern coast of Horomaka/Te Pātaka-a-Rākaihautū (Banks Peninsula). Tuhiraki (Mount Bossu) is the kō (digging stick) of the famous Waitaha explorer Rākaihautū. Akaroa was occupied by iwi such as Hāwea, Waitaha, Rapuwai, and Kāti Māmoe prior to the southern Kāi Tūhaitara migration to Canterbury. Te Ake was one of several Ngāi Tahu tūpuna (ancestors) who claimed land during this migration, placing his tokotoko at the head of the harbour. Akaroa continues to be a renowned mahinga kai (food-gathering area) for the local Kāi Tahu hapū based at the small kāika of Ōnuku which is located just to the south of Paka Ariki, Akaroa township. By the early nineteenth century, Akaroa Harbour had become a favourite port of call for whaling ships. French whaler, Jean François Langlois became involved in land transactions in the area in the late 1830s, which eventually lead to the founding of the Nanto-Bordelaise Company and ultimately In August 1840, French (and some German) settlers from the Comte de Paris landing at Paka Ariki/Akaroa. While the British had already annexed New Zealand by the time the settlers arrived, most stayed on and settled in the area. In the 1840s, the northern part of Akaroa was known as the ‘French Town’, while the southern part was the ‘English Town’. The land where the cottage at 130 Rue Jolie now stands, part of the ‘English town’, had been purchased by Frederick Pavitt in 1858. It was sold in 1864 to Henry Watkins, a druggist, and in 1870 to James Annand, a storekeeper and bootmaker. Potentially either Watkins or Annand had the cottage built. Nikau Cottage is a relatively plain single-storeyed mid-Victorian colonial cottage, constructed of timber and largely without ornament. The roof is corrugated steel. The cottage is located close to the street, its transverse bay extending through to the footpath. Nikau Cottage takes its name from the tall nikau palms planted in its garden, one in the front and two at the rear. In 1874 Annand sold the property to, Gorham Lambert, a former boatman and fishmonger who appears to have also been a dispensing chemist. Lambert came into financial difficulties in 1877 and late the following year, on 26 November 1878, the Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser published a mortgagee auction notice for the dwelling-house and land at Akaroa Town Section No. 128, Jollie Street, noting that Henry Edmondson was currently residing as tenant. In 1879 a Mrs Thomas, Jollie Street was advertising for Board and Lodging at the late residence of Mr Lambert. Edmondson owned the property between 1879 and 1893. For over 70 years, between 1893 and 1966, it belonged to members of the Pool family, illustrating a characteristic feature of Akaroa life, where properties were commonly retained in, and passed down through, families from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries. The lengthy periods of single family ownership ensured such places maintained much of their integrity. A photograph of the Pool family children standing in front of the cottage in circa 1900 shows that the window fronting the street in the south bay appears to be larger than the sash window that later replaced it.