Story: West Coast region

Part of page 5 – European arrival and settlement

James Mackay’s map of the West Coast

In preparation for the Arahura purchase, James Mackay prepared a map of the West Coast based on all earlier surveys, especially those of Thomas Brunner and Charles Heaphy, and his own exploration. Mackay took a lot of care to systematically record the names of features such as rivers, and his map has been used as the basis of later naming.