Museum

Picton Heritage & Whaling Museum

Two thousand items of Māori, whaling and maritime history, on the site of the original Waitohi pā.

Photo: Daderot / Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0

Run by the Picton Historical Society on London Quay, overlooking the foreshore. Whaling implements, items from the Mikhail Lermontov wreck, and a piece of one of Cook's gun carriages from Ship Cove.

Rainy-day option
Good with kids
Near the ferry
No car needed
History

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At a glance

Cost: See the museum's own site
Getting there: On foot — on the waterfront street
Address: 9 London Quay, Picton
Indoors: Yes
Hours: Tuesday–Sunday 10am–3pm; closed Monday, per the museum’s Visit Us page (checked 16 Oct 2026).
Collection: About 2,000 items spanning Māori, whaling and maritime heritage, some dating to the 1700s
Owner: Picton Historical Society (a community museum)
Phone: 03 573 8283

A lifebuoy, fire extinguisher and metal fitting recovered from the wreck of the Mikhail Lermontov. Daderot / Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0

About Picton Heritage & Whaling Museum

The museum sits on London Quay on the site of the original Waitohi pā, looking over the foreshore. Its roughly 2,000-item collection spans Māori, whaling and general maritime heritage from Waitohi / Picton and the Sounds, with some items dating back to the 1700s — among them harpoons and whaling gear, salvage from the Mikhail Lermontov, and a fragment of oak and copper sheathing from one of Captain Cook's gun carriages, used at his first landing at Ship Cove in January 1770.

It is a short walk from the Edwin Fox, so the two make a natural indoor pair on a wet day.