Akaroa is a small town on Banks Peninsula in the Canterbury Region of the South Island of New Zealand, situated within a harbour of the same name.

It is set on a sheltered harbour and is overlooked and surrounded by the remnants of an eruptive centre of the miocene Banks Peninsula Volcano.

[3] In 1830, the Māori settlement at Takapūneke, east of the current town of Akaroa, was the scene of a notorious incident.

[4] The captain of the British brig Elizabeth, John Stewart, helped North Island Ngāti Toa chief, Te Rauparaha, to capture the local Kāi Tahu chief, Tama-i-hara-nui, his wife Te Whe and his young daughter, Roimata.

Stewart could not be convicted of murder owing to the lack of a suitable legal system in New Zealand at the time.

[7] In 1838, a whaler, Captain Jean François Langlois, wrote up a questionable deed of purchase for "the greater Banks Peninsula" to which twelve Kāi Tahu chiefs each added their moko or cross.

[10][11][9] When the settlers later did arrive, the British authorities – who had in the meantime taken possession of the whole of New Zealand – decided a valid sale had not taken place in 1838, relying for their decision on English law and Māori oral evidence.

[12] While back in France, Langlois had raised capital from wealthy businessmen to fund the planned whaling and colonising venture.

Langlois ceded his supposed Banks Peninsula title to the company, took a minor shareholding and was entrusted with the whaling side of the venture.

[14] The French government became involved and in order to send out the settlers it supplied the warship, Mahé, fitted out as a whaler and renamed Comte de Paris.

They were accompanied by the Aube, a 28-gun corvette under Commodore Charles-François Lavaud [fr], whose role was also to oversea French whaling interests around New Zealand.

Hobson, who was now lieutenant-governor, wanted there to be no doubt that British sovereignty extended over all New Zealand and so to counter any potential threat to that situation, he dispatched the brig-sloop, HMS Britomart, to call first at Port Nicholson where the New Zealand Company settlers had recently arrived and established their own fledgling government, and thence to Akaroa.

Once there, Britomart and fluttering Union Jacks would provide a less than subtle welcome for the soon to arrive French settlers and squash any sovereignty pretentions Lavaud might have had.

[15] Back in the Bay of Islands, while discussions on land rights took place, the French colonisation continued.

They were all part of a sizeable infrastructure that included Catholic missionaries, churches, and priests taking classes.

[21] Bishop Pompallier established his first European station in Akaroa in 1840 as the French immigrants were all nominally Catholic.

The company by then was in a dire financial position[24] and was keen to raise funds by selling that land, which it did before becoming insolvent in 1849.

Some land was sold to individual settlers but most was bought by the New Zealand Company, which had still not decided on a place in the area to establish its own settlement.

[26] After being informed of the French intention to colonise Akaroa and to further its use as a whaling port, the Lieutenant-Governor of New Zealand, Captain William Hobson, sent the ship HMS Britomart to proclaim sovereignty over the area for the British Crown.

He acted as interpreter for Captain Owen Stanley at the flag-raising of 1840, and was the first European to travel up the Avon River / Ōtākaro in 1843.

The great majority of the artefacts currently held at Akaroa Museum are of the early farming community and their way of life at the time.

[27] Businesses grew in Akaroa and by 1883 there were five builders, four confectioners, eight general stores, five milk-sellers, four shoemakers, two bankers, five milliners and five blacksmiths.

[31] Plans were made in 2022 to rebuild the main wharf in the same position that it currently is, as it was nearing the end of its useable life.

[35][36] Akaroa became a popular cruise ship destination after the 2011 Canterbury Earthquakes damaged the port of Lyttelton.

[43][44][45] In 2023, the museum put on an exhibition called Catching Shadows which displayed a photographic history of Banks Peninsula starting in the early 1840s.

Unfortunately, a southerly storm demolished the framework completely and work had to start again from scratch, this time with a stronger design.

The Akaroa lighthouse is open for viewing on Sundays and on days when cruise ships visit the town.

After falling into disrepair around 1939, work was completed to restore the church and add traditional carved panels to the porch.

Built in the Gothic revival style with a steep roof, it was designed by Christchurch architect, John Whitelaw.