In the 1820s, Ngati Toa leader Te Rauparaha (?-1849) and his allies established themselves on Kapiti Island. Soon after, European traders arrived to conduct business. They were encouraged to visit by Te Rauparaha who displayed a keen business sense. His principle interest was guns, for which he traded large amounts of flax. Traders were soon followed by shore whalers who operated from both Kapiti Island and the mainland. Whaling was the first large-scale profitable commercial activity undertaken in New Zealand and had a considerable impact on both the local economy and the coastal populations of Maori and Pakeha. One of the first shore whaling establishment in the Cook Strait area was John Guard's station established around 1827 at Te Awaiti, in the Marlborough Sounds. The whaling industry at Kapiti was, as in most of New Zealand, relatively short-lived. Whaling companies, mostly Sydney based, set up stations on the Island and ran their own ships to collect the oil. The first station on Kapiti Island, Richards and Co., was established around 1830. By the winter of 1831, there were reports of as many as four ships calling at the island at one time. Other stations, including 'Te Kahuoterangi' were established on Kapiti Island itself and on islands just off the east coast of the Island. Little is known about the occupation of these stations. In contemporary accounts such as Wakefield, references are made to shore stations and the men who ran them, but these names are rarely linked with specific places. It is also never quite clear whether Kapiti refers to the main island alone or incorporates the small off-shore islands. In 1837, two whaling stations and plant belonging to Messrs Wright and Long were advertised for sale by public auction in Sydney. One was at "Wycatti" or Entry Island, the other at 'Capertee' or Kapiti Island, although Entry and Kapiti Islands were generally one and the same thing. In 1839, Captain William Barnard Rhodes also established a shore whaling station on Kapiti Island, which was managed by Thomas Wright. That same year Ernst Dieffenbach, a natural scientist on a New Zealand Company expedition, reported just two shore stations operating on Kapiti Island itself, plus a number on the off-shore islands. One Kapiti Island station was managed by John Nichol, who later married Te Rauoterangi, the daughter of a Ngati Toa chief on Kapiti Island. Morton suggests that some of the Kapiti stations were established or managed by American whaleship captains and indeed, close to Te Kahuoterangi was a promontory known as 'Yankee Lookout'. Two American whaling stations, Mayhew's and Lewis's respectively, were established on two of the small islands off Kapiti, Tahoramaura and Motungara. The latter information comes from McNab who also suggests that, in 1839, there was just the one station on Kapiti Island itself. This station may have been Gillet's (now spelt 'Jillett'). Situated less than a kilometre north of Te Kahuoterangi, at Waiorua, Gillet's whaling station was the subject of a well-known watercolour by Bowring from a pencil sketch by J.A. Gilfillian (1844). It was a substantial European settlement with a population estimated as many as 150 people, including local Maori. The illustration provides insight into the types of dwelling likely to have been built at Te Kahuoterangi. Te Kahuoterangi was the site of a Maori village which may have existed the same time as the whaling station but could easily have been occupied earlier. Early maps of Kapiti Island describe Te Kahuoterangi as the 'site of old whaling station'. Later maps also describe it as the site of a Maori village. Carkeek describes it as the site of a Maori village and makes no mention of its role as a whaling station. The exact date that the Whaling Station was established is unknown but it appears to have been in operation by 1839 and, by 1843, was a station of several boats. Its catch statistics are not listed in The New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Guardian for 1844, so it is probable that 1843 was its final year in operation. As early as 1905, Te Kahuoterangi was the most visible abandoned whaling station remaining on Kapiti Island. That year Cowan described the sites of the houses of both whalers and Maori on both sides of the Te Kahuoterangi stream, 'with the old stone chimneys that denote the huts of the Europeans'. No mention was made of trypot stands. Today, stone floors and hearths show where dwellings were originally located, while scattered whalebones indicate the function of the former settlement. Importantly, the station also retains a number of the trypot stands, which are now very rare. Work has been carried out to protect these structures and the site, which is not accessible to the public, is managed by the Department of Conservation.

General Description The site is located on the Kahuoterangi Stream fan, which emerges from a steep gully about 70 metres inland from the high water mark. The fan is approximately 40 x 40m, with a prominent slope down to the narrow coastal strip. This strip fronts a very steep hillside. A 1972 survey of Kapiti Island recorded seven stone fireplaces, the remains of four stone buildings, one round pit and extensive midden in the north bank of the stream. Clay plaster was observed on some of the stone buildings. A whale vertebra and piece of hoop iron were recorded on the beach just south of the stream mouth. Previous visits to the site had recorded up to twenty fireplaces scattered over an area of half an acre and the presence of part of a whale skeleton on the beach. Site Features Terraces are cut into the foot of the hill slope, south and north of the stream, the foot of the western slope, and by the track as it rises to the north of the flat strip 150 metres from the stream. Irregular stone alignments mark house floors to the south of the stream and a grave at the foot of the slope 50 metres north of the stream. In addition, there are also irregular stone heaps, beach-boulder, stone-block and carved pumice block fireplaces. Some of these are free standing but most are associated with terrace sites. At the eastern end of the site and north of the stream there are further irregular stone heaps and clay-set stone trypot stands. A shell midden is exposed on the north bank of the stream. There are also likely to be sub-surface archaeological remains associated with the identified archaeological features. Trypot Structures Trypot stand C is a rounded 'w' in plan form on the interior and a 'u' shape on the exterior. It is approximately 3600mm wide and 1700mm long with a depth of 900mm. It is constructed of local greywacke boulders and earth mortar. The exterior of the structure appears to have been rendered with an earth render. The heat of the fire seems to have fired the interior earth render. Almost two thirds of the structure appears to be intact. Vegetation has been removed. It has also been grouted, stabilized and replastered. The other try-work stands are much less intact. Trypot stand D, for instance, has only one wall remaining. These features may in fact be huts, rather than try-works. Grave The grave site is marked by a line of greywacke stones laid directly on the ground in the form of a rectangle. Fireplaces The fireplaces are constructed with greywacke or pumice in dry stone walling.