Mana Island, New Zealand
Encyclopedia
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...
(the larger is Kapiti Island
Kapiti Island
-External links:* , Department of Conservation* * , Nature Coast Enterprise *...
). The island’s name is an abbreviation of Te Mana o Kupe, "the mana
Mana
Mana is an indigenous Pacific islander concept of an impersonal force or quality that resides in people, animals, and inanimate objects. The word is a cognate in many Oceanic languages, including Melanesian, Polynesian, and Micronesian....
of Kupe
Kupe
In the Māori mythology of some tribes, Kupe was involved in the Polynesian discovery of New Zealand.-Contention:There is contention concerning the status of Kupe. The contention turns on the authenticity of later versions of the legends, the so-called 'orthodox' versions closely associated with S....
".
Mana Island is a 3 km (1.9 mi) long, 2.17 km² (0.837841684145801 sq mi) table, with cliffs along much of its coast and a plateau occupying much of the interior. It lies 3 km (1.9 mi) off the North Island coast in the Tasman Sea
Tasman Sea
The Tasman Sea is the large body of water between Australia and New Zealand, approximately across. It extends 2,800 km from north to south. It is a south-western segment of the South Pacific Ocean. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, the first recorded European...
, west of the city of Porirua
Porirua
Porirua is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand, immediately north of the city of Wellington, with their central business districts 20 km apart. A large proportion of the population commutes to Wellington, so it may be considered a satellite city. It almost completely surrounds...
and south of the entrance to Porirua Harbour
Porirua Harbour
Porirua Harbour is a natural inlet in the south-western coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The city of Porirua, one of the four cities in the Wellington conurbation, surrounds it. The city centre is to the south of the harbour....
. In 2009, it was selected by the Global Restoration Network as one of New Zealand's top 25 sites for ecological restoration.
History
Mana was occupied by Māori from the 14th century. In the early 1820s, the Ngati ToaNgati Toa
Ngāti Toa , an iwi , traces its descent from the eponymous ancestor Toarangatira. The Ngāti Toa region extends from Miria-te-kakara at Rangitikei to Wellington, and across Cook Strait to Wairau and Nelson....
iwi
Iwi
In New Zealand society, iwi form the largest everyday social units in Māori culture. The word iwi means "'peoples' or 'nations'. In "the work of European writers which treat iwi and hapū as parts of a hierarchical structure", it has been used to mean "tribe" , or confederation of tribes,...
, led by Te Rauparaha
Te Rauparaha
Te Rauparaha was a Māori rangatira and war leader of the Ngāti Toa tribe who took a leading part in the Musket Wars. He was influential in the original sale of conquered Rangitane land to the New Zealand Company and was a participant in the Wairau Incident in Marlborough...
established bases on Mana.
European occupation began 1830s with a whaling station, and bush
Bushland
Bushland is any area in Australia that is predominantly indigenous flora and fauna.Bushland is the term commonly used by conservation protection groups and other environmental groups as a blanket term for natural vegetation, which may cover any kind of habitat from open shrubby country with few...
was cleared for an early sheep farm. A lighthouse
Lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....
was built to the north in 1863, but shipwrecks were caused due to confusion between this light and Pencarrow light at the entrance to Wellington Harbour
Wellington Harbour
Wellington Harbour is the large natural harbour at the southern tip of New Zealand's North Island. New Zealand's capital, Wellington, is on the western side of Wellington Harbour. The harbour was officially named Port Nicholson until it assumed its current name in the 1980s.In Māori the harbour is...
, and the Mana lighthouse was removed to Cape Egmont
Cape Egmont
Cape Egmont is the westernmost point of Taranaki, on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island. It is located close to the volcanic cone of Mount Taranaki or Mount Egmont....
in Taranaki in 1877, where it still stands. It became Crown property in 1865 and was subsequently leased to J. F. E. Wright of Wellington.
Vella family
In 1886 Mariano Vella obtained a sublease of Mana from Wright. He knew little of farming, and arranged that Harry Harris of Pauatahanui would teach him sheep husbandry and farming practice. The Vella family lived in Station Road at Paremata, while Mariano sailed to and from the island on most days. At first he devoted his energy to stocking the island's 536 acres (217 ha) with sheep. The Mana Island lighthouse, built in 1864 and discontinued in 1877, had been shifted to Cape Egmont. Mariano Vella bought one remaining keeper's cottage, dismantled it and rebuilt it close to an existing store shed on the eastern side of the island. In 1887 he built a small woolshed that still stands. At shearing time Mary and the children would come across to live at Mana. The life of the family was shattered when Mary died of a heart attack on 22 December 1889 at the age of 20.Mariano Vella continued with his development of Mana. Wright had found it difficult to farm there profitably, but Vella, with his native skill in handling boats and his newly acquired experience of farming, was able to manage the island farm very effectively. In 1894 he visited Dalmatia and on 3 September that year married Elizabetta Caterina Tarabochia at Lussinpiccolo on the small island of Lussin (Lošinj
Lošinj
Lošinj is a Croatian island in the northern Adriatic Sea, in the Kvarner Gulf. It is almost due south of the city of Rijeka and part of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar county....
) in the Adriatic Sea. The couple returned to New Zealand, and for the last part of their voyage travelled from Sydney to Auckland on the Wairarapa. The ship was wrecked on Great Barrier Island on 29 October 1894 with the loss of 121 lives; Mariano and Elizabetta reached the shore but all their possessions were lost.
The head-lease of Mana expired in December 1893 and when a 14-year lease was auctioned in 1894 Mariano Vella was the successful bidder, as he was again in 1908 and in 1922. He and Elizabetta (known in New Zealand as Elizabeth) raised a family of two girls, Mattea and Antonia (Anne), and two boys, Giovanni (Jack) and Mariano junior. Such was Mariano Vella's success as a farmer that in 1909 he was able to retire. He and Elizabetta returned to her home on Lussin, on a visit that lasted six years. Mattea went with them and attended school there and in Gorizia, Italy, before the family came back to New Zealand in 1915. The family then moved to Plimmerton and lived in a large two-storeyed house close to the sea. Andrew and William, the two eldest sons, both farmed Mana for a time but eventually the management and the lease passed to Andrew who held it until his death in 1951. The lease was transferred from the Vella family to John Gault in 1953.
A suspected outbreak of scrapie
Scrapie
Scrapie is a fatal, degenerative disease that affects the nervous systems of sheep and goats. It is one of several transmissible spongiform encephalopathies , which are related to bovine spongiform encephalopathy and chronic wasting disease of deer. Like other spongiform encephalopathies, scrapie...
(a very contagious and debilitating condition) resulted in all the sheep being slaughtered in the mid 1980s.
Conservation
The New Zealand Department of Conservation (DoC)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...
now administers the island and has started to restore the forests, with over 500,000 trees being planted so far. In 1989/90 mice
House mouse
The house mouse is a small rodent, a mouse, one of the most numerous species of the genus Mus.As a wild animal the house mouse mainly lives associated with humans, causing damage to crops and stored food....
were eradicated from the island. Subsequently, a wetland on the island was restored and several threatened bird, lizard and plant species translocated to Mana.
About three DoC
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...
staff live on the island, which has its own native plant nursery, electric generator and boat shed. The DoC staff haul their boat out of the water up a ramp with a winch. Some structures on the island provide habitat for native animals; for example, Little Penguin
Little Penguin
The Little Penguin is the smallest species of penguin. The penguin, which usually grows to an average of in height and in length , is found on the coastlines of southern Australia and New Zealand, with possible records from Chile.Apart from Little Penguins, they have several common names...
s roost under the old woolshed
Shearing shed
Shearing sheds are large sheds located on sheep stations to accommodate large scale sheep shearing activities.In countries where large numbers of sheep are kept for wool, sometimes many thousands in a flock, shearing sheds are vital to house the necessary shearing equipment, and to ensure that the...
.
Habitat restoration
Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand
The Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Inc. is an environmental organisation specialising in conservation of indigenous plant and animal life in and around New Zealand....
and the Friends of Mana Island. This effort has resulted in it being selected as one of the top ecological restoration projects in Australasia by the Global Ecological Restoration Network.
Seedlings from a 5 km (3.1 mi) radius of the island are brought to the plant nursery where they are raised until ready for planting out. Most planting is done by volunteers on day trips to the island. Although over half a million native plants have been established under this programme, two thirds of island will remain in grass and coastal shrublands. Planting has been mostly in gullies and sheltered parts of the island which experiences strong winds. The strategy has been to plant native shrubs in connecting corridors. This suits most bird life and allows for natural regeneration. The plantings have been mainly of hardy pioneer species best able to withstand the rigorous conditions. When there has been enough shelter established, the forest area will be inter-planted with a variety of less robust species to establish a typical Wellington coastal forest.
Animals
The island is a scientific reserve holding many native animals and plants that are rare on the mainland. Notable species on the island include the Cook Strait Giant WetaGiant weta
Giant wetas are species of weta in the genus Deinacrida of the family Anostostomatidae. Giant wetas are endemic to New Zealand, and are examples of island gigantism....
, Shore Plover
Shore Plover
The Shore Dotterel or Shore Plover is a small species of Plover endemic to New Zealand. Its Māori name is Tuturuatu....
, North Island Robin
North Island Robin
The North Island Robin is a species of Australasian robin endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. It was once considered a subspecies of the New Zealand Robin of South and Stewart Islands, but mitochondrial DNA sequences have shown that the two lineages split prior to the Pleistocene and...
, Takahe
Takahe
The Takahē or South Island Takahē, Porphyrio hochstetteri is a flightless bird indigenous to New Zealand and belonging to the rail family. It was thought to be extinct after the last four known specimens were taken in 1898...
, Wellington Green Gecko
Wellington green gecko
The Wellington green gecko, Naultinus elegans punctatus, is a subspecies of gecko found only in the southern half of the North Island of New Zealand...
, Yellow-crowned Parakeet
Yellow-crowned Parakeet
The Yellow-crowned Parakeet, Cyanoramphus auriceps, is a species of parakeet endemic to the islands of New Zealand. The species is found across the main three islands of New Zealand, North Island, South Island and Stewart Island/Rakiura, as well as on the subantarctic Auckland Islands...
, and 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...
. The most recent example is the critically endangered Wellington speargrass weevil from the Wellington South Coast in 2006.
The Department of Conservation and the Friends group are collaborating on a five year program to establish the threatened Shore Plover on the island. The birds, of which only about 200 remain in the wild, are sourced from a captive population at the Mount Bruce Wildlife Centre.
Planned projects include the transfer to the island of a wide range of other species, many of which are rare and endangered. Notable amongst these will be the Tuatara
Tuatara
The tuatara is a reptile endemic to New Zealand which, though it resembles most lizards, is actually part of a distinct lineage, order Sphenodontia. The two species of tuatara are the only surviving members of its order, which flourished around 200 million years ago. Their most recent common...
, the Little Spotted Kiwi
Little Spotted Kiwi
The Little Spotted Kiwi or Little Gray Kiwi, Apteryx owenii, is a small species of kiwi originally from New Zealand's South Island that, around 1890 and 1910 was captured and later released on Kapiti Island...
, a subspecies of the carnivorous Powelliphanta
Powelliphanta
Powelliphanta, common name amber snails, is a genus of large, carnivorous land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. As a group their survival status is endangered.- Taxonomy :...
snail, and a range of threatened plants endemic to the Wellington Region
Wellington Region
The Wellington region of New Zealand occupies the southern end of the North Island.-Governance:The official Wellington Region, as administered by the Wellington Regional Council covers the conurbation around the capital city, Wellington, and the cities of Lower Hutt, Porirua, and Upper Hutt, each...
.
One important project is the translocation of the critically endangered
Critically endangered
Version 2010.3 of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species identified 3744 Critically Endangered species, subspecies and varieties, stocks and subpopulations.Critically Endangered by kingdom:*1993 Animalia*2 Fungi*1745 Plantae*4 Protista-References:...
Whitaker's Skink
Whitaker's skink
The Whitaker's skink, Cyclodina whitakeri, is a species of skink in the Scincidae family. It is found only in New Zealand. The specific epithet is in honour of Tony Whitaker , a New Zealand herpetologist who has studied NZ lizards for more than 30 years.Whitaker's skink lives in coastal forest and...
from the only remaining mainland population at nearby Pukerua Bay
Pukerua Bay
Pukerua Bay is a small seaside community at the southern end of the Kapiti Coast, New Zealand. In local government terms it is the northernmost suburb of Porirua City...
. They are being bred in captivity until there are sufficient to form a viable and safe colony on Mana Island. On the mainland they suffer predation from mustelids, rodents and hedgehog
Hedgehog
A hedgehog is any of the spiny mammals of the subfamily Erinaceinae and the order Erinaceomorpha. There are 17 species of hedgehog in five genera, found through parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and New Zealand . There are no hedgehogs native to Australia, and no living species native to the Americas...
s.
Seabirds
Recent projects have included the successful translocations to the island of diving-petrels, Fairy PrionFairy Prion
The Fairy Prion is a small seabird with the standard prion plumage of black upperparts and white underneath with an "M" wing marking.-Taxonomy:...
s and Fluttering Shearwater
Fluttering Shearwater
The Fluttering Shearwater is a species of seabird in the Procellariidae family.It is found in New Zealand and Solomon Islands.Its natural habitats are open seas and rocky shores.-References:...
chicks, with the progeny of several transferees later successfully fledging - the first to do so on Mana Island for many centuries. These species are an important part of the restoration of the island because of their nutrient inflows (free fertiliser) and the habitats their burrows provide for reptile
Reptile
Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
s and invertebrate
Invertebrate
An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...
s. The seabird translocation techniques perfected on Mana Island are being used with rare and endangered species elsewhere in New Zealand, such as the Chatham Island Taiko
Magenta Petrel
The Magenta Petrel or Chatham Island Taiko is a small seabird in the gadfly petrel genus, Pterodroma....
, Chatham Petrel
Chatham Petrel
The Chatham Petrel or Ranguru is a medium-sized, grey, white and black gadfly petrel. It is endemic to the Chatham Islands, New Zealand, and until recently was restricted to the 218 ha Rangatira or South-East Island....
and Hutton's Shearwater
Hutton's Shearwater
The Hutton's Shearwater is a species of seabird in the family Procellariidae. Its common and specific name commemorates F. W. Hutton, a former curator of the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch....
.
There have been attempts to start a Gannet colony on Mana Island, with conservationists creating a false colony of birds made of concrete, and installing sound systems that make Gannet sounds, in the hope that real ones will be attracted to nest there. As of 2008 these attempts have been unsuccessful, although the same combination of techniques is showing good results in a similar project at Young Nicks Head, near Gisborne
Gisborne, New Zealand
-Economy:The harbour was host to many ships in the past and had developed as a river port to provide a more secure location for shipping compared with the open roadstead of Poverty Bay which can be exposed to southerly swells. A meat works was sited beside the harbour and meat and wool was shipped...
.