The Catlins area, which covers the area from Fortrose to Owaka, was named after Captain Edward Cattlin (spelling correct), who made a land claim here, with the intention to forestall stringent land laws. Cattlin must have explored the Catlins and Owaka estuaries as he was able to support his claim with a sketch map of the outlet of the two rivers.

The claim extended from Roading Bay, just south of the Nuggets, along the Catlins Heads and inland for 80 kms.  After a long delay Cattlin received 93.3 hectares, at 3 shillings 3 pence per hectare.  The land was not surveyed until 1872 and the formal transfer not registered until 25 April 1873 - long after Captain Cattlin had died in Sydney in 1856.
extract from book written by A R Tyrell

Fortrose
Fortrose is situated at the mouth of the Mataura River.  The earliest records are from 1834, when whalers established a station, which was abandoned in 1836.  James Wybrow, a whaler, and others formed the nucleus of Fortrose.  The first town was actually called Russelltown where sections were surveyed.  This area is to the west of the present village.  The name Fortrose appears to have been attributed to a Scottish drover from Inverness-Shire, near Fortrose in Scotland.  The drover claimed that the area was very similar to the Scottish Fortrose.

Fortrose became a very busy port, and a 200 foot long jetty was built in 1875.  Grain, wool and logs were the main exports and a goods shed was built to accommodate the demand.  Several hotels and two boarding houses were also built.

In 1899 the Waimahaka railway line opened bringing an end to the boom times for Fortrose.

Waikawa
The Maori was the first to inhabit Waikawa.  The first European settlers were Andrew and Betsy Haldane and their family.  The Haldanes built the first sawmill, which began production about 1836.  Other early industries were whaling, goldmining, stone quarrying, flax milling, pastoral runholding and dairy farming.  Shipping facilitated much of these, and brought supplies to the early settlers.

Waikawa was a busy port in the 1880s and early 1900s.  An early settler, the
Rev James Henry, believed that Waikawa would one day be the principal port of the South Island.

The Rev Henry owned land at Waikawa and had money to invest, however his prediction did not come true.  The entrance to the Waikawa harbour silted up over the years, preventing larger vessels from entering, and shipping had ceased by the early 1920s.  Waikawa was geographically isolated and the building of roads was slow and expensive.

So from a bustling town in the early 1900s (it boasted a hotel, grocery store, bakery, butcher, confectioner, bootmaker and a post office - as early as 1865 on the eastern side of the harbour) Waikawa found its level as a fishing village, and more recently as a peaceful retreat for permanent residents and owners of holiday homes, tourist accommodation and attractions.