English: Pūrākaunui (formerly spelt Purakanui) is a small settlement in Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand. It is located within the bounds of the city of Dunedin, in a rural coastal area some 25 km to the north of the city centre.

Pūrākaunui lies close to the Pacific Coast to the east of Waitati and north of Port Chalmers, on a peninsula between Long Beach and the Pūrākaunui Inlet.[1] On the opposite shore of the inlet is the community of Osborne. Both settlements lie close to the Orokonui Ecosanctuary and the historic pā site of Mapoutahi (Goat Island).

Noted former residents of Pūrākaunui include poet David Howard. and Richard Driver

Pūrākaunui should not be confused with the locale with the same name in The Catlins, some 100 km further south, which is home to the Purakaunui Falls , in the Pūrākaunui Bay Scenic Reserve on the Pūrākaunui River.

Richard Driver ( Oldtime Purakaunui Resident)

Richard Driver was a notable character in early Dunedin and the first pilot in Otago Harbour. He was born in Bristol in 1812 and went to sea at the age of 14. Whaling ships took him to the Pacific and he landed in Otago as second mate on an American vessel, the John and Edward, in 1839. The family tradition is that his party were in search of water at Whareakeake (Murdering Beach) when they came under attack from local Māori. Driver's life was spared at the insistence of Motoitoi, daughter of Kahuti, who threw her cloak over him to claim him as her own. This is a standard motif in stories of first encounter relationships, but in fact the era of conflict between Māori and whaler was long past by the time that Driver arrived in Otago.

Driver and Motoitoi lived for a time in a cave at Whareakeake beach and had three daughters together: Maria Catherine, Emma Paerata and Mary Titawa. After Motoitoi died in 1846, Driver subsequently had a son, John Poroki, by his Māori housekeeper. Driver’s Māori daughters all married Europeans and bridged the cultural divide between Māori and Pākehā. They produced many descendants who have been important members of Kāi Tahu Whānui. They include the Tirakatene (Tregerthen) family, three generations of whom have represented Southern Maori in parliament, as well as the noted writer Keri Hulme.

Like many whalers, however, Driver later married a European woman, Elizabeth Robertson, who was a passenger on the Philip Laing. They had 11 children together and there are also large numbers of descendants from this line.

When the first New Zealand Company immigrants arrived at Otago Heads in March 1848, it was Driver and a Māori crew who acted as their pilot through the difficult entrance to the harbour. He fulfilled this role for a number of years and became notorious for his salty tongue and the outrageous stories he peddled to new arrivals. He was a great devotee of Otago, though, telling the immigrants that he would rather be hanged in Dunedin than die a natural death in Wellington. He later moved to Purakaunui and died there in 1897 aged 85.

Nearby Mapoutahi Pa

From Kiwi Adventures

adventure.nunn.nz/about/

This narrow headland was once the strategic location of a pa that was the scene of the last dreadful act in a feud that tore through the pre-European Maori community of the Dunedin area. It began sometime in the mid-1700s when a leader named Taoka failed to make an expected visit to his cousin Te Wera, who took this as an insult. In response he took a war party to the Waitaki River and slew Taoka’s son. He sent two minor chiefs to bear the news to Taoka, perhaps hoping that he would slay the messengers and no further utu would be forthcoming. However Taoka was away when the messengers arrived, so they passed the news on to his wives and beat a hasty retreat, likely thanking their lucky stars.

The outraged Taoka laid siege to Te Wera’s fortified pa at Huriawa (which we will no doubt visit in future), but Te Wera had prepared for the attack by stockpiling preserved food, and fresh water could be obtained from a spring on the highly defensible Karitane peninsula. Eventually Taoka was unable to feed his war party and forced to leave. Te Wera quickly took the opportunity to leave for Stewart Island.

But Taoka still needed to settle the score, so he turned his sights on Te Wera’s ally, Te Pakihaukea, who chose to make his stand here at Mapoutahi, perching his pa atop cliffs that could only be accessed via a narrow strip of land. Back in his time, the water was deeper around the isthmus, making it an even more secure position than it appears today.

Taoka laid siege, but could not breach the fortress. Then one winter night he sent a scout to check the defences, and discovered that dummies had been set up in place of the usual sentries. The vengeful chief seized this opportunity, broached the pa, and slaughtered the inhabitants. It is said that only one man escaped, by diving into the ocean.

Once the massacre was over, the bodies were left piled up like a large heap of wood, which is the translation for the name of the bay – Purakaunui.