Ancient stories tell the origins of southern Maori, with the waka of Aoraki becoming Te Wai Pounamu (the South Island), and its sternpost, Te Taurapa a Te Waka o Aoraki becoming Bluff Hill (also known as Motupohue). The Maui traditions are also told in the south, with Maui arriving in his waka Maahunui, and throwing out the anchor Te Puka o Te Waka a Maui (Rakiura). Maui’s achievements are recognised in place names in the south, including Omaui near Bluff, and Te Tapuwae o Maui and Te Rereka o Maui in Fiordland (Maui’s footstep and Maui’s leap).
The early generations learnt about the land and its resources: stone sources were found, and stone (especially pounamu) became an important trading item. Whanau moved throughout the southern area to take advantage of seasonal resources and trade, and also for reasons of intermarriage and war. Kaika were established close to resources. Rights and resources and places were established, and traditions established which protected the manawhenua.
According to the Ngai Tahu Statutory acknowledgments in the settlement important villages along the south coast included: ‘Te Wae Wae (Waiau), Taunoa (Orepuki), Kawakaputaputa (Wakapatu), Oraka (Colac bay), Aparima (Riverton / Aparima named Aparima after the daughter of the noted southern rangatira Hekeia, to whom he bequeathed all of the land which his eye could see as he stood on a spot at Otaitai, just north of Riverton / Aparima), Turangiteuaru, Awarua (Bluff), Te Whera, Toe Toe (mouth of the Mataura River) and Waikawa.’
In the 1830s shore based whaling was established, including a station at Aparima (Riverton / Aparima). Tuhawaiki established his own whaling station. Strategic intermarriage of Maori women to whalers strengthened relationships. Flax and timber as well as other commodities were traded.
1853 saw the Murihiku purchase which left Maori south of the Waitaki (excluding the Otakou Block) with only 4,630 acres, the start of a long quest by southern Maori for justice questioning the legality of the purchase as well as the inadequacy of the land reserved. The major settlements on the southern coast near modern day Riverton / Aparima in the mid nineteenth century included Pahia, Ngawhakaputaputa, Oraka and Aparima (established probably in the 1820s), although the largest settlement was on Ruapuke Island.
A reserve was set aside at Aparima (Riverton / Aparima) but was inadequate. A 200 acre reserve promised at Waimatuku was not allocated. The Aparima reserve was the site of the main kaika and included an urupa and a tauranga waka. The majority of the reserve was later taken by the Public Works Act for a secondary school, with only the tauranga waka remaining as reserve, a source of continued grievance. The area of North Beach from Otaitai to the mouth of the Aparima River, inland and back to Otaitaia Stream is considered a traditional strong hold of Ngai Tahu as a site of the kaika and urupa.
Riverton / Aparima is the site of the oldest permanent European settlement in Southland, but the town was only surveyed in 1858. The two sections which the three Palmerston Street cottages were positioned on was the cusp of the ‘Old Settlement.’ These sections were initially owned by Theophilus Alfred James Daniel (1817-1893). Daniel’s role in Riverton / Aparima began humbly, with him squatting and running a draper’s shop from 1851. This had followed a period of whaling around the Otago and Southland coasts in the late 1830s and working in Australia in the 1840s. In 1853, Daniels married Elizabeth Stevens (1832-1892). Elizabeth Daniels was related to John Howell (1810?-1874), the ‘founder’ of Riverton / Aparima. Howell, a whaler, had set up a station in the Riverton / Aparima area in the mid to late 1830s, and soon after built a cottage. By 1843 Howell’s mother and step-siblings, Elizabeth among them, had moved from England to Australia. Howell convinced the family to move to Riverton / Aparima after his mother’s death. This meant that Elizabeth and her married sister were the first European women to settle in Southland. From 1862, Daniel went onto become a member of the Southland Provincial Council from 1862, as well as the Otago Provincial Council when the two provinces re-amalgamated. After the centralised system of government was instigated, Daniel served as the Member of Parliament for Wallace on two occasions: 1876-79 and 1882-84. By the end of his life he had also accumulated considerable property holdings in and around Riverton / Aparima.
There are differing accounts of when and for whom the cottages were built. One suggestion is that the cottages were built by and for the family and close relatives of Daniel and Elizabeth in the 1850s. The Daniels appear to have been based in the ‘Old Settlement’ area of Riverton / Aparima even prior to obtaining the titles for their land either side of Palmerston Street in April 1865. According to family accounts, the Daniels lived in the middle cottage, with Elizabeth’s sister’s family next door in 86 Palmerston Street. It has also been suggested that 86 Palmerston Street was built for an early local whaler. After apparently residing in the cottage, the Daniels are said to have built Daniel House directly across the road in the 1850s. However, a pre-survey date for the cottages seems unlikely because the three buildings fit snugly in a defined area. If they were constructed in the earliest period of settlement in Riverton / Aparima there would have been no need to position them in such close proximity.
It is more likely that the cottages date from the development period of Riverton / Aparima. Following the example of Howell, by the 1860s the whaler settlers of Riverton / Aparima had begun to diversify into farming, sawmilling, and other industries. The town’s economy and population continued to grow and it was in the 1860s that and churches and schools first were built. In 1864, a settlement south of the Jacobs River estuary became known as ‘Village of South Riverton / Aparima.’ Riverton / Aparima was constituted as a Borough in 1871 and the settlements either side of the estuary only then became collectively known as Riverton / Aparima. With Riverton / Aparima becoming a firmly established town in the 1860s and 1870s it would have been practical to begin maximising the use of land in central Riverton / Aparima for residential properties. In 1875 the parcels of land opposite the Daniel’s large house were sold by Theophilus. At this time the southern parcel became a separate title. These two parcels corresponded to the sizes of the cottages, with a small curtilage allowance between them. Therefore, it is suggested that the land was either divided to reflect the area occupied by the recently built cottages, or in anticipation of their construction.
Whichever circumstance occurred, the cottages are known to have been used in the 1870s and in the rates information from this time they are grouped together. Indeed, their convenient location on the main road in the heart of the township must have made them attractive as residential properties for workers, but also as small commercial premises. It seems that up to two of the buildings were used as shops until the end of the nineteenth century. Section 8, which was the site for 82 and 84 Palmerston Street, was owned by Benjamin Edwards in 1878 and the buildings described as a ‘comfortable 4 roomed cottage’ (probably the middle building) and ‘Blacksmith’s and Wheelwright’s shops erected thereon.’ In fact, these northern two buildings seem to have been owned as a couple until after World War One when the section was subdivided. Both buildings were once again owned by one person, Doreen Pemberton (d.2011), in the 1960s and 1970s.
From the mid twentieth century to the present the majority of the owners of the three cottages have been women. There are some exceptions to this, including in the early 1980s when 86 Palmerston Street was purchased by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust in order to promote its restoration and retention on its site. In 1980 the New Zealand Historic Places Trust was approached about potentially purchasing two Riverton / Aparima houses, including 86 Palmerston Street, with the express design of ‘restoration for possible resale.’ The cottage was part of the estate of A. V. Cox and the trustee felt that since the building had a negligible sale value due to its dilapidated state, and that it would be better to relocate or demolish the house and sell the empty property. After careful consideration the NZHPT decided to purchase the property in order to retain its association with its original site and its place within the trio of like houses on Palmerston Street. After a nationwide advertising campaign in 1983 a buyer willing to take on the property and make it habitable was found in Napier resident Bob White, and later sold. In 2011 the three cottages are private homes.