Otago Heads

In a broader sense, the term also sometimes included the parts of the Pacific coast of Otago Peninsula closest to Taiaroa Head, including Pipikaretu Beach, Penguin Beach, and Rerewahine Point.

These sites were locations of early liaison between the first European settlers in Otago and local Māori; the settlement of Ōtākou was an important settlement prior to the founding of the city of Dunedin, at the far end of the harbour, in 1848.

The heads had been an important Māori site prior to the arrival of Europeans, and are of archaeological significance.

The term is still used today, though not as widely as it once was, and tends to refer to Taiaroa Head and the Aramoana Mole, which form the entrance to the harbour.

The Otago Heads were the site of one of the southern signings of New Zealand's founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi, in 1840.