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Port Molyneux : the story of Maori and pakeha in South Otago : a centennial history : commemorating the landing of George Willsher and his companions at Willsher Bay, June 28, 1840 : with a programme for the unveiling of the centennial cairn, erected by the Clutha County Council, June 28, 1940

The Block “Twenty Miles Square.”

The Block “Twenty Miles Square.”

If a map is taken, it is possible to identify Point Tuguttar as Point Tokata, or Nugget Point. Point Owaka Lower is obviously somewhere about the mouth of the Owaka River. The boundaries mentioned in one of Cattlin's purchases are:—

“A tract of land described as near Molyneux Bay in the Middle Island. The northern boundary commences at Wangapawa, a point south of Matau (Molyneux Harbour), and extending inland to the mountains. The eastern boundary is the sea coast, and extending as far as the South Head of a small harbour called Owaka, from which point a line drawn inland to the mountains from the southern boundary.”

So far I cannot determine the place name Wangapawa. And at first sight it is difficult to draw a map of a block twenty miles square with a baseline of the mileage from Nugget Point to the mouth of the Owaka River. If, however, we take the old mouth of the Molyneux page 19 and mark a point ten miles north of it, and another ten miles south, we will find the two extremities as indicated in the sketch map. Ten miles from the old mouth of the Matau measured south alongthe coast arrives at a point about False Island, just to the north of the Owaka estuary.

Sketch map of the block of land twenty miles square sold by Tuhawaiki to Thomas Jones.

Sketch map of the block of land twenty miles square sold by Tuhawaiki
to Thomas Jones.

page 20

If inland we measure twenty miles up the Molyneux, we get to somewhere near the mouth of the Waiwera River, with a western point towards Clinton and an eastern limit about Clarksville.

On a map it would enclose the area shown on the sketch map, and this approximates to the description given by Richter in his reminiscences.