On that day 175 years ago yesterday, four years before the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, six Europeans and six Maoris landed in the sheltered North Otago bay to begin a whaling station.
The European names - William Haberfield, John Knox, John Hughes, John Thomson, Peter Chevett and Richard Burns - are listed on the left-hand side of a plaque upon a monument overlooking the beach.
The right-hand column lies empty beneath a note which reads: Maori names unknown.
A second plaque, facing out to sea, was jointly unveiled by Waitaki Mayor Alex Familton and Upoko of Te Runanga O Moeraki David Higgins yesterday, commemorating the anniversary.
Mr Higgins welcomed the crowd and called the day's festivities a "wonderful celebration".
Yesterday was the 175th anniversary of the two groups coming together to form a whaling station, near where the restaurant Fleur's Place now stands, he said.
"Most of [the European whalers] married into the tangata whenua," he said. "Many of those families are still here today."
The people had since grown closer, but their activities, and economy had changed, he said.
"Today we smile at the whales and take their pictures, rather than harpooning them."
Descendants of the Maori settlers of the whaling station knew the names of the unnamed men who settled there, he said.
Mr Familton, whose descendants moved to Hampden in the 1860s, said Moeraki had thrived due to its size and position.
The community had always been "truly co-operative", he said.
"In a way, it's symbolic; equality right from the start."
Mia Higgins, who is Mr Familton's great-niece and Mr Higgins' granddaughter, and who travelled from Perth for the occasion, was presented as a symbol of the convergence of the two ethnicities in the area.
Alastair Pike, of Timaru, whose great great grandfather was William Haberfield, was delighted to be at the 175th anniversary after attending the 150th celebrations in 1986.
The day, attended by about 200 people, included cake cutting, entertainment, the planting of kowhai trees a small market and an evening dance at the Moeraki Hall.
