Author(s): John Hall-Jones

Southland | Secondhand

'The wild and often inhospitable lands of the far south of New Zealander were amongst those first settled.  The men who pioneered their development were no less adventurous than the early whalers, sealers, and sailors who had discovered the land before the; their contributions to the region's early growth and preosperity was no less significant.

This is the story of their discoveries and achievements: the discovery of Foveaux Strait  and the great lakes of the interior, the establishment of the early whaling and sealing stations around the coast, and the settlment of Bluff (the oldest town in New Zealand), and invercargill.  It is, too, the story of their own personal fortunes.'