The Mount Somers Volcanics of mid Canterbury in eastern South Island are a high-K calcalkaline andesite–dacite–rhyolite suite erupted subaerially approximately 95 Ma ago during the long Late Cretaceous episode of normal geomagnetic field. Thermoremanent magnetic directions at 46 sites, corrected for post–eruption tectonic tilt, are stable and group well (a95= 3·8°, K = 31·7) with a very steep mean inclination (I = –85°, D = 354°). The resulting paleomagnetic South Pole position is at 52° S 174° E, indicating that Canterbury was within 10° of the South Pole 95 Ma ago, and that little finite rotation of Canterbury relative to the South Pole has occurred since.