Purakaunui Falls, Caitlins, South Island

The Purakaunui Falls are a cascading multi-tiered waterfall on the Purakaunui River, located in the Catlins in the southern South Island of New Zealand. First inhabited by the Maori people in the period 900-1700 AD, the Catlins is an area with a rich history. Captain James Cook sighted the area in 1770, but it was not until the period 1810-1830 that whalers and sealers arrived in the Catlins.

The Catlins takes its name from Edward Cattlin, a ship’s captain who made a land claim in the district in 1840. The first settlement of land by Europeans took place in the mid 1850’s. Settlers arrived primarily to mill trees, the first mill being in operation around 1865. Nine timber mills were operating near the Catlins and Owaka Rivers by the 1880’s.

In 1877, 107 ships sailed from the Catlins area loaded with timber bound for house building in Dunedin and Christchurch. During the 1870’s and 1880’s many settlers took up land for farming. The farms were only 20-80 hectares and bought with state assistance. In the early 1900’s, farms became larger and freehold. Since the end of the sawmilling era, the Catlins district has relied on farming as its mainstay.

Purakaunui Falls is an iconic image for southeastern New Zealand and was featured on the 1976 New Zealand, 10c postage stamp. In that same year other Waterfall stamps featured were: the 14c Marakopa/Marokopa Waterfall, the 15c Bridal Veil Falls and the 16c Papakorito Falls stamp.

The falls are located 17 km (11 miles) to the southwest of the small town of Owaka and five kilometres (3 miles) from the river’s outflow into the Pacific Ocean. They can be reached via a short, well-signposted bush walk from a gravel side-road off the main Owaka-Invercargill road. The falls are in an isolated area surrounded by native bush in a scenic reserve of 5 km² (2 sq mi), and fall 20 m (66 ft) in three tiers.

You will find this image on the front page of the website in my Featured Content Gallery. Permission has been granted to use this image under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.