Southland Region – Murihiku, the last joint of the tail
Southland is known to Māori as Murihiku, the last joint of the tail. Its earliest inhabitants were Waitaha, who came on the Uruao waka whose captain Rākaihautū named places and carved out lakes across the region, followed by Kāti Māmoe and Kāi Tahu; tradition tells that the Takitimu Mountains are the overturned waka Tākitimu. From 1813 the coast saw extended early contact between Māori and Europeans, with sealers, whalers and missionaries such as Wohlers at Ruapuke Island, and by the 1830s Kāi Tahu had built a thriving trade supplying whaling vessels. Today the region is New Zealand's southernmost, including Stewart Island, with around 103,900 residents. Share your own stories, memories and photographs here.