FYFFE HOUSE KAIKOURA BUILT 1842

Fyffe House is the last tangible remains of Robert Fyffe's whaling station "Waiopuka" established on 1842.
Traditionally pink it's first paint was a mix of red and white lead and oil.
Fyffe House is owned by the N.Z. Historic Places Trust and is open to the public.
Whalers first came to New Zealand waters in 1792, initially to hunt sperm whales from their ships. Shore whaling, the killing of whales from small boats launched from the shore, began in the 1820s. Southern right whales were killed and their blubber rendered down. The oil produced from that process was used to fuel lamps and as a lubricant. The first shore-based whaling station in Kaikoura was established by Robert Fyffe in 1842. Fyffe had arrived in New Zealand in 1836. He worked for a few years in the Marlborough whaling industry and then opened Waiopuka station, just to the south of Fyffe House, with one of his workmates from Marlborough, John Murray. In 1843 Fyffe had four whale boats and employed 40 men for the whaling season.