Kawau Island
Encyclopedia
- Kawau redirects here. For other uses see Te KawauTe KawauTe Kawau RFC is a rugby club in the Manawatu province. It is based in Rongotea which is roughly a 15 minute drive from Palmerston North. The Te Kawau rugby uniform consists of green and black hooped socks, black shorts and a green and black hooped jersey....
, Jason KawauJason KawauJason Kawau is a rugby union player currently playing for the Kobelco Steelers in the Top League in Japan.-Playing Career:...
, and Great CormorantGreat CormorantThe Great Cormorant , known as the Great Black Cormorant across the Northern Hemisphere, the Black Cormorant in Australia and the Black Shag further south in New Zealand, is a widespread member of the cormorant family of seabirds...
(Kawau in Māori).
Kawau Island is an island
Island
An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...
in the Hauraki Gulf
Hauraki Gulf
The Hauraki Gulf is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has a total area of 4000 km², and lies between the Auckland Region, the Hauraki Plains, the Coromandel Peninsula and Great Barrier Island...
, close to the north-eastern coast of the North Island
North Island
The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...
of New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. At its closest point it lies 1.4 km (0.869921831309729 mi) off the coast of the North Auckland Peninsula
North Auckland Peninsula
The North Auckland Peninsula, frequently referred to simply as the Northland Peninsula, is located in the far north of the North Island of New Zealand. The peninsula is easily confused with, though not the same as Northland Region, which occupies the top 80% of the peninsula...
, just south of Tawharanui Peninsula
Tawharanui Peninsula
Tawharanui Peninsula is a finger of land projecting into the Hauraki Gulf from the east coast of the much larger North Auckland Peninsula of New Zealand. It separates Omaha Bay to the north from Kawau Bay and Kawau Island to the south...
, and about 8 km (5 mi) by sea journey from Sandspit Wharf, and shelters Kawau Bay to the north-east of Warkworth
Warkworth, New Zealand
Warkworth is a town in the upper North Island of New Zealand, within the Rodney District and lying at the far north of the Auckland Region but just south of the Northland Region...
. It is 40 km (24.9 mi) north of Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
. Mansion House in the Kawau Island Historic Reserve is an important historic tourist attraction. Almost every property on the Island relies on direct access to the sea. There are only two short roads serving settlements at Schoolhouse Bay and South Cove, and most people have private wharves for access to their front door steps.
The island is named after the Māori
Maori language
Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...
word for the shag (cormorant)
Cormorant
The bird family Phalacrocoracidae is represented by some 40 species of cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed recently, and the number of genera is disputed.- Names :...
bird.
Geography
The island is 8 by at its longest axes, and is almost bisected by the long inlet of Bon Accord Harbour which is geologically a "drowned valley". The sheltered location of the bay has made it a favourite stop for yachts for more than a century.History
Copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
was mined on the island after discovery in the 1842, in the first years of European ownership. With imported miners and their families from Wales and Cornwall, the mining settlement finally reached a maximum of around 300 people, before problems with shipping and mine flooding (despite the construction of a pumphouse
Pumphouse
Pumphouse is the eighth full-length studio album released under the name of the British heavy metal band Tokyo Blade. The album was actually recorded by the band Pumphouse, which was the outfit founded in the early 90s by Alan Marsh, Tokyo Blade original vocalist, after his band Mr. Ice had folded...
) closed the mine again in 1885. The island was bought a few years later by Sir George Grey
George Edward Grey
Sir George Grey, KCB was a soldier, explorer, Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Governor of Cape Colony , the 11th Premier of New Zealand and a writer.-Early life and exploration:...
, Governor of New Zealand
Governor-General of New Zealand
The Governor-General of New Zealand is the representative of the monarch of New Zealand . The Governor-General acts as the Queen's vice-regal representative in New Zealand and is often viewed as the de facto head of state....
, in 1862 as a private retreat. Grey extended the original copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
mine manager's house (built 1845) to create the Mansion House, which still stands, and made the surrounding land into a botanical and zoological park, importing many plants and animals. The house changed hands several times after Grey, and decayed increasingly, but has been restored and furnished in the period of Governor Grey and is now in public ownership in the Kawau Island Historic Reserve, administered by the New Zealand Department of Conservation
New Zealand Department of Conservation
The Department of Conservation , commonly known by its acronym, "DOC", is the state sector organisation which deals with the conservation of New Zealand’s natural and historic heritage...
. The reserve is public land and covers 10% of the Island, and includes the old copper mine, believed to be the site of New Zealand's first underground metalliferous mining venture (1844).
The island is home to kiwi
Kiwi
Kiwi are flightless birds endemic to New Zealand, in the genus Apteryx and family Apterygidae.At around the size of a domestic chicken, kiwi are by far the smallest living ratites and lay the largest egg in relation to their body size of any species of bird in the world...
and two thirds of the entire population of North Island weka
Weka
The Weka or woodhen is a flightless bird species of the rail family. It is endemic to New Zealand, where four subspecies are recognized. Weka are sturdy brown birds, about the size of a chicken. As omnivores, they feed mainly on invertebrates and fruit...
. Among the animals that Grey introduced were five species of wallabies
Wallaby
A wallaby is any of about thirty species of macropod . It is an informal designation generally used for any macropod that is smaller than a kangaroo or wallaroo that has not been given some other name.-Overview:...
. Three of the six introduced wallaby species remain and do considerable damage to the native vegetation, thus harming the habitat for these flightless birds and other native fauna. The wallabies destroy all emerging seedlings which means that the present native trees are the last generation. The usual understorey forest species are absent due to wallaby browsing and in many cases the ground is bare. Possums, also introduced by Grey, destroy mature native trees. The result has been a considerable loss of biodiversity, with bird numbers plummeting due to loss of both food supply and habitat. Even the surrounding marine environment has been severely compromised by silt carried from the bare ground by rainwater.
Grey's wallaby introduction however had some minor indirect benefit in the early 2000s, when species from the island were introduced into Australia's Innes National Park
Innes National Park
Innes is a national park on the southwest tip of Yorke Peninsula in South Australia , 160 km west of Adelaide.-Environment:Innes is the largest area of native vegetation remaining on the Yorke Peninsula, providing habitat for 115 species of conservation significance...
to boost genetic diversity.
Pōhutukawa Trust New Zealand
PōhutukawaPohutukawa
The Pōhutukawa is a coastal evergreen tree in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, that produces a brilliant display of red flowers made up of a mass of stamens. The Pōhutukawa is one of twelve Metrosideros species endemic to New Zealand...
Trust New Zealand was founded in 1992 by Ray Weaver and other private landowners who own 90% of the island, "to rehabilitate the native flora and fauna of Kawau Island". Until then it was considered hopeless to reverse the considerable ecological damage caused by the introduced animal and plant species, and Kawau was said to be of historical rather than botanical importance. The Trust's plan is to eradicate significant animal pests including wallabies and possums, eradicate certain weed species and control others, and enable sustainable land uses in a restored ecological setting of native flora and fauna. The ongoing program is funded by donations and sponsors. Possum numbers have already been greatly reduced and kept at very low numbers since 1985 through sustained control, saving the coastal pōhutukawa tree, a New Zealand icon. The response to pest control work has been increasing native bird numbers, including increased kiwi calls, brown teal
Brown Teal
The Brown Teal or New Zealand Teal, is a species of dabbling duck of the genus Anas. The Māori name for it is Pāteke. It was considered to be conspecific with the flightless Auckland and Campbell Teals in Anas aucklandica; the name "Brown Teal" was applied to that entire taxon...
, kākā
Kaka
The New Zealand Kaka, also known as Kākā, is a New Zealand parrot endemic to the native forests of New Zealand.-Description:...
, Kererū
Kereru
The New Zealand Pigeon or kererū is a bird endemic to New Zealand. Māori call it Kererū in most of the country but kūkupa and kūkū in some parts of the North Island, particularly in Northland...
, and bellbirds
New Zealand Bellbird
The New Zealand Bellbird , also known by its Māori names Korimako or Makomako, is a passerine bird endemic to New Zealand. It has greenish colouration and is the only living member of the genus Anthornis. The bellbird forms a significant component of the famed New Zealand dawn chorus of bird song...
.
After assisting with capturing all of the rare brushtail rock wallabies that could economically be recovered from the private land for relocation to a successful captive breeding program established by Waterfall Springs Conservation Association in Wahroonga, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, the Pōhutukawa Trust New Zealand is now humanely eradicating the remaining feral
Feral
A feral organism is one that has changed from being domesticated to being wild or untamed. In the case of plants it is a movement from cultivated to uncultivated or controlled to volunteer. The introduction of feral animals or plants to their non-native regions, like any introduced species, may...
wallabies from the island, to enable ecological restoration (mainly by natural regeneration). An inventory of remaining indigenous plants and forest fragments on the island was compiled in 1996 and is being progressively enhanced to define the remnant resource still available for restoration, and several rare indigenous plant species have been discovered during the process.
Other animal pests the Trust intends to eradicate in stages as resources enable include stoats, feral cats, and ship rats. Exotic plants unpalatable to the wallabies have become serious invasive weeds on the island, and the Trust's plans include eradication or control of these also as part of the ecological restoration process. Kawau is an extreme example of the consequences of exotic animals being brought to a place and ecosystems where they do not belong.
The serious threat of possums to New Zealand's indigenous forest was first positively identified on Kawau by Weaver in 1955. Since then possums have become a major animal pest in New Zealand, compromising both forest health and the country's primary industries. Governor Grey introduced possums to Kawau in 1868-69. The first liberation in New Zealand is believed to have been by Captain Howell at Riverton in the South Island in 1837.
The Pōhutukawa Trust New Zealand received a Green Ribbon Award from the Ministry for the Environment in 2003 "for outstanding leadership and commitment to environmental protection".
About 10% of the island is under the control of the DOC, which tries to keep the protected areas free of invasive pests and animals such as dogs.