Motuareronui / Adele Island is a small island off the coast of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. It is contained within Abel Tasman National Park. The navigator and botanist

Dumont d'Urville Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville (; 23 May 1790 – 8 May 1842) was a French explorer and naval officer who explored the south and western Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica. As a botanist and cartographer, he gave his nam ...

charted the island in 1827. In the 1850s, the island and nearby Fisherman Island were purchased by a Nelson custom collectors, but were later confiscated by the government due to misuse of funds. Both islands became scenic reserves in 1895. These islands shelter the waterway known as the Astrolabe Roadstead from

Tasman Bay / Te Tai-o-Aorere Tasman Bay (; officially Tasman Bay / Te Tai-o-Aorere), originally known in English as Blind Bay, is a large V-shaped bay at the north end of New Zealand's South Island. Located in the centre of the island's northern coast, it stretches along ...

, making it popular with kayakers and boaties.

Etymology

Dumont d'Urville named the island after his wife Adele Pepin, and also named the adjacent Fisherman Island, along with the Astrolabe Roadstead, which he named after his

ship A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...

. In August 2014, the island name was officially altered to Motuareronui / Adele Island. ''Motu'' means island, ''arero'' is a tongue and ''nui'' is big; hence, ''Motuareronui'' literally means the big island shaped like a tongue, which makes Motuareroiti / Fisherman Island (with ''iti'' meaning little) the little island shaped like a tongue; however, in his comprehensive book on natural and cultural history of Abel Tasman National Park, Philip Simpson suggests the two islands are incorrectly named, as follows:

References

Abel Tasman National Park Islands of the Tasman District Tasman Bay {{Tasman-geo-stub