Picton

History

Prior to European settlement, the Te Atiawa o Te Waka-a-Māui iwi occupied Waitohi Pā on the site of the present town. In March 1850, Sir George Grey and Sir Francis Dillon purchased the land from Te Āti Awa, who moved to neighbouring Waikawa Bay. In 1859, the Marlborough Province was created and the newly named Picton became the provincial capital. The provincial capital was moved to Blenheim in 1865. Author Katherine Mansfield spent time in Picton, where her grandparents, Arthur and Mary Beauchamp, and her father Harold, lived for some time when they came from Australia. She included a reference to the port in her short story "The Voyage" (in the collection The Garden Party), which is "an account of a trip to Picton from Wellington on the Cook Strait ferry". The roll-on/roll-off (RORO) road and rail ferry service between Picton and Wellington started on 11 August 1962, operated by the New Zealand Railways Department with the ship .

Geography

Picton is located in an inlet known as Picton Harbour, on the true right (south) side of the upper Queen Charlotte Sound / Tōtaranui. Picton Harbour is flanked to the west by Wedge Point, which separates it from Grove Arm, and to the east by The Snout, which separates it from Waikawa Bay. Within the harbour, Kaipupu Point splits the inlet into two, Picton Harbour proper to the east and Shakespeare Bay to the west. The main town is located on flat to rolling land at the head of Picton Harbour. Waitohi River starts in Essons Valley and passes through the town, draining into the sound near the ferry terminal. The township extends northeast along rolling land towards Waikawa Bay, separated from Picton Harbour by The Snout and Victoria Domain. On the land side, Picton is surrounded by hills and mountains, including Te Tara-o-Te-Marama/Mount Freeth to the west, the Robertson Range to the south and Mount McCormick to the east. The Elevation Saddle connects southwest of the town with the Tuamarina River valley and contains the main land transport routes between Picton and the rest of the South Island.

Most-observed species

• Kelp Gull

  Larus dominicanus M.H.K.Lichtenstein, 1823 · Aves
  4,573
• New Zealand Bellbird

  Anthornis melanura (Sparrman, 1786) · Aves
  3,879
• Silver-eye

  Zosterops lateralis (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  3,203
• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  2,763
• Silver Gull

  Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae (Stephens, 1826) · Aves
  2,739
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,513
• Pied Cormorant

  Phalacrocorax varius (Gmelin, 1789) · Aves
  2,438
• Common Chaffinch

  Fringilla coelebs Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  2,239

Most recent

• M 4.6 — 2026-09-04
  28 km NW of Raumati Beach, New Zealand
• M 4.2 — 2026-07-31
  29 km WNW of Titahi Bay, New Zealand
• M 4.4 — 2026-06-16
  30 km W of Titahi Bay, New Zealand
• M 4.1 — 2026-06-12
  28 km W of Picton, New Zealand
• M 4.2 — 2026-06-12
  9 km NNW of Renwick, New Zealand
• M 4.5 — 2026-06-02
  28 km W of Titahi Bay, New Zealand