Some of the first Europeans to live and work on Banks Peninsular were whalers.
They set up small camps and settlements out on the Pacific coast and the area quickly became the second biggest whaling center in early New Zealand!
The very first whaling camp, or "station" was at Peraki Bay in 1837. But others quickly followed, and soon there were other stations at Island Bay, Ikoraki Bay, and Oashore Bay (which may have been a slurred way of saying 'Go Ashore')
Men from many nations lived on the peninsular and hunted whales. Australian, American and French ships took part, and killed humpbacked, sperm and southern right whales.
The hunting was little more than reckless slaughter and within 10 years whale numbers had dropped to almost nothing, although there were still some whales in the area and whaling continued unil the 1870s.
Today, the whales appear to be slowly returning. In 1991, for example, a southern right whale mother and calf were cruised into Le Bons Bay.