Māori settlement The origin of the name 'Timaru' is disputed. Some believe that it derives from
Māori Te Maru, which can mean a 'place of shelter'. However, other authorities allege that Timaru originates from a literal translation of the combination of
tī, a
cabbage tree and
maru, meaning 'shady'. Māori
waka seem to have employed the site of Timaru as a place to rest on journeys up and down the eastern coastline for many years before the arrival of the first Europeans in the 19th century. The area includes over 500 sites with traces of Māori rock art, particularly in the rock overhangs and caves of the Opuha and Ōpihi River valleys, to the west of modern-day Timaru. Archaeologists have suggested that Māori
iwi (tribes) were permanently settled in the district before 1400 AD. During the 17th or 18th century the resident
Ngāti Mamoe were driven southwards into
Fiordland by an invasion of the
Ngāi Tahu, who came from the North Island. Te Runanga o Arowhenua is the
hapū (subtribe) for Aoraki (Timaru District). Their marae is located just outside Temuka.
19th century onwards , built in 1911 European settlement began with the construction of a
whaling station in 1839 by the
Weller brothers of
Otago at Patiti Point, close to the present town centre. A supply ship,
The Caroline, provided the name for a local bay. Later a sheep station, known as
The Levels, was set up on land obtained by the Rhodes brothers, and run by
George Rhodes. One of the earliest settlers was Captain
Henry Cain, who set up a store in 1857 on behalf of
Henry Le Cren of
Lyttelton, and Le Cren himself moved to Timaru in the following year. Few lived in Timaru until 14 January 1859 when the sailing ship
Strathallan arrived from London, carrying a party of 111, 107, or, as a 1958 account said, about 120
immigrants. Persistent land disputes arose between the Rhodes brothers and local government officials with the result that two townships were established in the port area, Government Town and Rhodestown. These eventually merged into a single community in 1868. Given this division, until recently none of the main north-south streets lined up. Stafford Street, which became the main thoroughfare, was formed along the early bullock wagon trail. Following the loss of a number of vessels off the coast, the breakwater design by Engineer John Goodall was adopted and work started on the redevelopment of the artificial port in 1877, which eventually caused sand washed south down the Pacific shoreline to build up against the northern mole. This was the beginning of the extensive
land reclamation around the Caroline Bay district, an area which is still growing today. Timaru continued to expand during the 20th century, with much of the development taking the form of wooden colonial style
bungalows set in individual sections of land.
Sacred Heart Basilica was opened in 1911. ==Geography==