Enderby Island is part 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 ...
's uninhabited
Auckland Islands archipelago
An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands.
Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...
, south of mainland New Zealand. It is situated just off the northern tip of
Auckland Island, the largest island in the archipelago.
Geography and geology
Enderby Island lies off the northeastern extremity of Auckland Island, directly across from the mouth of
Port Ross, from which it is separated by some . Several islands lie in the strait between the two islands, notably
Rose
A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...
,
Ewing
Ewing may refer to:
People
* Ewing (surname)
* Ewing (given name)
Places
;United States
* Ewing Township, Boone County, Arkansas
* Ewing, Illinois, a village
* Ewing Township, Franklin County, Illinois
* Ewing, Indiana, an unincorporated communi ...
, and
Ocean Islands. Of these, Rose Island lies between the two closest points on Auckland and Enderby Island, separated from them by two narrow channels, each some in width. The island comprises around 1% of the total land area of the Auckland island group.
Enderby Island has few notable geographic features. It is surrounded by cliffs and rocky shorelines, with the only landing point being at Sandy Bay in the island's southwest. Several historic huts are located at this bay, which is also home to a breeding colony of
New Zealand sea lions. Much of the island's interior is bog and wetland, drained by numerous small streams. A small lake, Teal Lake, is located close to the southeastern shore. The island's northernmost point, also the northernmost point in the Auckland Islands, is Derry Castle Reef, named after the ship ''
Derry Castle'', which foundered there in 1887.
Enderby Island is perched on the
Campbell Plateau and is composed of eroding volcanic remains from eruptions that occurred between 25 and 10 million years ago.
History
Polynesia
Polynesia () "many" and νῆσος () "island"), to, Polinisia; mi, Porinihia; haw, Polenekia; fj, Polinisia; sm, Polenisia; rar, Porinetia; ty, Pōrīnetia; tvl, Polenisia; tkl, Polenihia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of ...
n explorers arrived at Enderby Island in the 13th or 14th centuries, about the time mainland New Zealand was settled. Archaeological excavations revealed their presence at Sandy Bay, in a sheltered and relatively hospitable location, accessible to seal colonies. Excavated earth ovens contained the bones of seals and sea lions, fishes, mussels, albatrosses and
petrels. The Polynesians stayed for one or more summers and left behind scrapers, tools, and fish hooks.
After the Polynesians departed, the Auckland Islands were uninhabited until they were rediscovered by
Abraham Bristow
Abraham Bristow (c1771-1846) was a British mariner, sealer and whaler. In August 1806 he discovered the Auckland Islands.
Life and early maritime career
Bristow was baptised 22 March 1771 at Begbroke, Oxfordshire; the fifth child and third so ...
aboard the whaling ship ''Ocean'' in 1806. He named the island after the owners of his ship,
Samuel Enderby & Sons
Samuel Enderby & Sons was a whaling and sealing company based in London, England, founded circa 1775 by Samuel Enderby (1717–1797). The company was significant in the history of whaling in the United Kingdom, not least for encouraging their ...
.
On 20 March 1887, the
''Derry Castle'', an iron
barque registered in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, Massachusetts, ran aground off Enderby Island nine days into its journey. The ship was en route from
Geelong, Victoria
Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, a ...
to
Falmouth, Cornwall and was crewed by a complement of twenty-three sailors. It carried one passenger and a cargo of wheat. The ''Derry Castle'' was owned by P. Richardson & Co. and was under the command of Captain J. Goffe.
The surviving members of the ''Derry Castle'' crew found a
castaway depot at Sandy Bay. They proceeded to construct some further crude shelters around this depot. On a cliff overlooking the water, they buried the bodies of their fellow crew members that had washed ashore. The grave was marked with the ship's figurehead.
After 192 days the ''Derry Castle'' was officially posted as missing by
Lloyd's of London. On 21 September 1887, a 45-ton steamer, the ''Awarua'', arrived in
Hobson's Bay
The City of Hobsons Bay is a local government area in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It comprises the south-western suburbs between 6 and 20 km from the Melbourne city centre.
It was founded on 22 June 1994 during the amalgamation of l ...
, Victoria, Australia, returning from an illegal
sealing expedition in the Auckland Islands. On board the ''Awarua'' were the remaining eight survivors from the ''Derry Castle''.
The ''Derry Castle'' grave site was maintained for many years by the New Zealand government until it sank into the ground. However, during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the ship's
figurehead was resurrected by
coastwatchers stationed on the islands in the
Cape Expedition programme. The figurehead can now be viewed (along with other items from the wreck) at the
Canterbury Museum in
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...
, New Zealand. In its place, a tombstone now marks the site of the sailors' graves.
Fauna
Important Bird Area
Enderby Island was cleared of introduced species, such as cattle, pig, rabbit and rat in 1994, and by 2015 the abundance of wildlife was notable compared with Auckland Island.
The island is part of the Auckland Island group
Important Bird Area
An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations.
IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...
(IBA), identified as such by
BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...
because of the significance of the group as a breeding site for several species of
seabird
Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same enviro ...
s as well as the endemic
Auckland shag,
Auckland teal,
Auckland rail
The Auckland rail (''Lewinia muelleri'') is a small nearly flightless rail endemic to the Auckland Islands 460 km south of New Zealand. It is somewhat of a biogeographical anomaly, being the only species in the genus ''Lewinia'' to have reac ...
and
Auckland snipe.
[BirdLife International. (2012). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Auckland Islands. Downloaded from on 2012-01-23.]
Other fauna include the
brown skua,
New Zealand pipit
The New Zealand pipit (''Anthus novaeseelandiae'') is a fairly small passerine bird of open country in New Zealand and outlying islands. It belongs to the pipit genus ''Anthus'' in the family Motacillidae.
It was formerly lumped together with th ...
,
New Zealand sea lion,
northern giant petrel
The northern giant petrel (''Macronectes halli''), also known as Hall's giant petrel, is a large predatory seabird of the southern oceans. Its distribution overlaps broadly, but is slightly north of, the similar southern giant petrel (''Macronec ...
and
yellow-eyed penguin. Dominant vegetation include
rata forest and
megaherb
Megaherbs are a group of herbaceous wildflowers growing in the New Zealand subantarctic islands and on the other subantarctic islands. They are characterised by their great size, with huge leaves and very large and often unusually coloured flowers ...
s such as the
Campbell Island carrot.
Cattle
As with rabbits, cattle were introduced to Enderby Island in the late 19th century.
[Rare Breeds Conservation Society of New Zealand Incorporated (2006]
Enderby Island cattle
/ref> Shorthorn cattle were brought to the island by whalers in 1894 where they proceeded to survive on kelp and other island flora, becoming a distinctive wild variety. By the mid-1980s, the cattle had nearly denuded Enderby Island of its growth, a problem that came to the attention of New Zealand's Department of Conservation. In response, efforts were made to eradicate cattle on the island. By the mid-1990s, only one cow, 'Lady', remained. Lady was taken to mainland New Zealand in February 1993. Since then she has been the subject of intense efforts to save the variety, efforts that have included cloning. Lady died in May 2009, aged more than twenty years.
Rabbits
A distinct variety of rabbit lived on Enderby Island.[Rare Breeds Conservation Society of New Zealand Incorporated (2006]
Enderby Island rabbits
/ref> Rabbits are not indigenous to the island; their ancestors were brought from Australia in October 1865 to serve as food for shipwreck survivors. Following their introduction, the population was isolated for almost 130 years. The rabbits were eradicated from the island in the early 1990s, though some were rescued and the breed survives in captivity. Enderby Island rabbits are predominantly silver-grey in colour but a recessive gene ensures that a small percentage is cream or beige.
See also
* Auckland Islands
* Composite Antarctic Gazetteer
The Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica (CGA) of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) is the authoritative international gazetteer containing all Antarctic toponyms published in national gazetteers, plus basic information about t ...
* List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands
* New Zealand Subantarctic Islands
* SCAR
A scar (or scar tissue) is an area of fibrous tissue that replaces normal skin after an injury. Scars result from the biological process of wound repair in the skin, as well as in other organs, and tissues of the body. Thus, scarring is a na ...
* Territorial claims in Antarctica
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
Flora and fauna of Enderby Island
{{Authority control
Islands of the Auckland Islands
Island restoration
Former populated places in Oceania
Important Bird Areas of the Auckland Islands