The Taiaroa Head is named after Te Matenga Taiaroa, a chief of the Iwi of Ngāi Tahu, who lived there in the 19th century. It is also known by the Māori as Pukekura - a Pā (village) of the Māori, which was built on the cape and was built around the year 1650. It existed until the 1840s and is associated with the warrior Tarewai, who lived there in the 18th century.
In 1964, the Taiaroa Head Lighthouse, located on the northern tip of the cape, was built - the oldest working lighthouse on the South Island of New Zealand and the second oldest in the country.
Also on the cape are the remains of an earlier coastal defense, which included the position of an Armstrong Disappearing Gun built in 1886 out of fear of invasion by the Russians and now in restored form.
Taiaroa Head has been designated as a nature reserve and is a breeding ground popular among seabirds. The DOC indicates that nearly 10,000 seabirds live on the cliffs and slopes of the Cape, including the Royal Albatross, 200 of which breed on the Cape almost all year round and a population of the Stewart Island Shag, an endemic species of the genus Cormorants, which are native to the cliffs of the Cape. Furthermore, seagulls, terns, petrels and shearwaters can be seen at Taiaroa Head. On the south side of the Taiaroa Head there are around 200 pairs of small penguins living on Pilots Beach. The entire Cape population is estimated at around 400. Also, specimens of the New Zealand Fur Seal and New Zealand Sea Lions are found on the coast of the Cape.
A visit to the Royal Albatross Center is definitely worth it.
Source: wikipedia.de