Bench Island or Te Wāhitauā are unofficial names for an island off the east coast of

Stewart Island Stewart Island ( mi, Rakiura, ' glowing skies', officially Stewart Island / Rakiura) is New Zealand's third-largest island, located south of the South Island, across the Foveaux Strait. It is a roughly triangular island with a total land ar ...

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 was named 'The Bench' by

Captain James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and ...

. To the east of the island are small islands called Flat Rock and The Haystacks. It is not to be confused with the neighbouring

Ruapuke Island Ruapuke Island is one of the southernmost islands in New Zealand's main chain of islands. It lies to the southeast of Bluff and northeast of Oban on Stewart Island/Rakiura. It was named "Bench Island" upon its discovery by Captain James Cook i ...

which was also named Bench Island. Bench Island was previously known as Run 538. In 1941 Bench Island was described as being covered in a dense layer of trees, shrublands and

tree fern The tree ferns are arborescent (tree-like) ferns that grow with a trunk elevating the fronds above ground level, making them trees. Many extant tree ferns are members of the order Cyatheales, to which belong the families Cyatheaceae (scaly tree ...

Name

The name of Bench Island originates from Captain James Cook, who named the island 'The Bench'. A newspaper from 1930 attributes the name ''Te Wahi-taua'' to "tradition asserts a war party were forced to land there, presumably on a voyage from

Ruapuke Ruapuke is a small farming community (predominantly sheep and cattle farmers) in the Waikato region on the slopes of Karioi, between Raglan and Kawhia in New Zealand. History The introduction to 'Ruapuke' says, "The greater part of the Rua ...

to The Neck, but the writer could not get particulars."

References

Islands of Southland, New Zealand Foveaux Strait Stewart Island {{Southland-geo-stub