Kawau Island is in the

Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana The Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has an area of 4000 km2,North Island 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 ...

. At its closest point it lies off the coast of the

Northland Peninsula The Northland Peninsula, called the North Auckland Peninsula in earlier times, is in the far north of the North Island of New Zealand. It is joined to the rest of the island by the Auckland isthmus, a narrow piece of land between the Waitematā H ...

, just south of

Tāwharanui Peninsula Tāwharanui 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. The neare ...

, and about by sea journey from Sandspit Wharf, and shelters Kawau Bay to the north-east of Warkworth. It is north of

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

. 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 residents have private wharves for access to their front door steps. The island is named after the

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

word for the shag (cormorant) bird. A regular ferry service operates to the island from Sandspit Wharf on the mainland, as do water taxi services.

Geography

The island is 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. Approximately 17,000 years ago during the Last Glacial Maximum when sea levels were over 100 metres lower than present day levels, Kawau Island was landlocked to the North Island, and surrounded by a vast coastal plain where the

Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana The Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has an area of 4000 km2,

History

Kawau, though providing little arable land, was well-favoured by Māori people, Māori for its beautiful surrounding waters, with battles over the island common from the 17th century on. Entrepreneurs from

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

purchased the island in 1840, and shortly afterwards James Forbes Beattie formed the Kawau Company, intending to mine copper on the island. Miners from

Falmouth, Cornwall Falmouth ( ; kw, Aberfala) is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,797 (2011 census). Etymology The name Falmouth is of English ...

were brought over for the operation, later joined by smelters from Wales, once it was discovered that unmselted ore was a fire hazard for ships, and an ore smelting operation was begun on the island. A rival company, funded by

Frederick Whitaker Sir Frederick Whitaker (23 April 1812 – 4 December 1891) was an English-born New Zealand politician who served twice as the premier of New Zealand and six times as Attorney-General. Early life Whitaker was born at the Deanery Manor House, B ...

and

Theophilus Heale Theophilus Heale (1816–1885) was a 19th-century British Pākehā settler, later a Member of Parliament from Auckland, New Zealand. Biography Heale was the captain part-owner of one of the first British migrant ships to arrive in Wellington ...

, was granted land immediately outside of the Kawau Company's land grant, giving them control of the wharf. The rival company created shafts underneath the Kawau Company's land, which led to a confrontation when miners from the Kawau Company broke into the rival company's heading. In 1846 the rival company's grant was rejected, and the Kawau Company took full possession of the mines in 1848. In 1844/45 the island produced about 7,000 pounds of copper, which was about a third of Auckland's exports for that year. The island was bought a few years later by

Sir George Grey Sir George Grey, KCB (14 April 1812 – 19 September 1898) was a British soldier, explorer, colonial administrator and writer. He served in a succession of governing positions: Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Go ...

Governor of New Zealand The governor-general of New Zealand ( mi, te kāwana tianara o Aotearoa) is the viceregal representative of the monarch of New Zealand, currently King Charles III. As the King is concurrently the monarch of 14 other Commonwealth realms and l ...

, in 1862 as a private retreat. Grey extended the original copper 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 to its state 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 The Department of Conservation (DOC; Māori: ''Te Papa Atawhai'') is the public service department of New Zealand charged with the conservation of New Zealand's natural and historical heritage. An advisory body, the New Zealand Conservation Au ...

. 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 ruins of the mine's pumphouse are registered as a Category I heritage structure. Mansion House, Kawau Island, New Zealand

Mansion House, Kawau Island, New Zealand

The island is home to

kiwi Kiwi most commonly refers to: * Kiwi (bird), a flightless bird native to New Zealand * Kiwi (nickname), a nickname for New Zealanders * Kiwifruit, an edible berry * Kiwi dollar or New Zealand dollar, a unit of currency Kiwi or KIWI may also ref ...

and two-thirds of the entire population of North Island weka. Among the animals that Grey introduced were five species of

wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and so ...

. 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 Possum may refer to: Animals * Phalangeriformes, or possums, any of a number of arboreal marsupial species native to Australia, New Guinea, and Sulawesi ** Common brushtail possum (''Trichosurus vulpecula''), a common possum in Australian urban a ...

, also introduced by Grey, destroy mature native trees. The result has been a considerable

loss of biodiversity Biodiversity loss includes the worldwide extinction of different species, as well as the local reduction or loss of species in a certain habitat, resulting in a loss of biological diversity. The latter phenomenon can be temporary or permanent, de ...

, 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 to boost genetic diversity.

Pohutukawa Trust New Zealand

Pohutukawa 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 is a registered Charity and has run continuously since its beginnings in 1992. The Pohutukawa Trust was chaired until his death in 2015 by Ray Weaver, and is now chaired by his brother Carl. The Trust's plan is to eradicate all introduced 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

pohutukawa ''Metrosideros excelsa'', commonly known as pōhutukawa ( mi, pōhutukawa), New Zealand Christmas tree, New Zealand Christmas bush, and iron tree, is a coastal evergreen tree in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, that produces a brilliant display o ...

tree, a New Zealand icon. The response to pest control work has been increasing native bird numbers, including increased kiwi calls,

brown teal The brown teal (''Anas chlorotis''; mi, pāteke) is a species of dabbling duck of the genus ''Anas'' native to New Zealand. For many years it had been considered to be conspecific with the flightless Auckland and Campbell teals in ''Anas aucklan ...

, kaka,

kererū The kererū (''Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae'') or New Zealand pigeon is a species of pigeon native to New Zealand. Johann Friedrich Gmelin described the bird in 1789 as a large, conspicuous pigeon up to in length and in weight, with a white br ...

, and bellbirds. 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 Wahroonga is a suburb in the Upper North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, 18 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government areas of Ku-ring-gai Council and Hornsby Shire. ...

, Australia, Pohutukawa Trust New Zealand is now humanely eradicating the remaining wallabies from the island, to enable

ecological restoration Restoration ecology is the scientific study supporting the practice of ecological restoration, which is the practice of renewing and restoring degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems and habitats in the environment by active human interrupt ...

(mainly by natural regeneration). As at 2019 four wallaby species,

Tammar wallaby The tammar wallaby (''Notamacropus eugenii''), also known as the dama wallaby or darma wallaby, is a small macropod native to South and Western Australia. Though its geographical range has been severely reduced since European colonisation, the ...

Parma wallaby The parma wallaby (''Notamacropus parma'') is a small, hopping, kangaroo-like mammal native to forests of southeastern Australia. About the size of a stout cat, it lives in dense shrub and is only active at night to feed on grasses and small plan ...

, Bush-tailed rock-wallaby and

Swamp wallaby The swamp wallaby (''Wallabia bicolor'') is a small macropod marsupial of eastern Australia. This wallaby is also commonly known as the black wallaby, with other names including black-tailed wallaby, fern wallaby, black pademelon, stinker (in Q ...

, all continue to threaten the native species on the island. 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. The serious threat of possums to New Zealand's indigenous forest was first 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 Pohutukawa Trust New Zealand received a Green Ribbon Award from the Ministry for the Environment in 2003 "for outstanding leadership and commitment to environmental protection".

Department of Conservation controlled land

About 10% of the island is under the control of the

Department of Conservation An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment ...

, which tries to keep the protected areas free of invasive pests and animals. As at 2002, Kawau Island was home to the largest island population of North Island weka.

Demographics

Kawau Island is in an SA1 statistical area which covers and includes Motuora,

Moturekareka Island Moturekareka Island is a small island off the southern edge of Kawau Island in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf The Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has an area of 4000 km2,Motuketekete Island Motuketekete Island is an uninhabited island in the northern Hauraki Gulf, off the northeastern coast of New Zealand's North Island. It is separated from Moturekareka Island to the west by the Blanche Channel. History The island was purchase ...

, Takangaroa Island and Rabbit Island, all of which are uninhabited. The SA1 area is part of the larger Gulf Islands statistical area. The SA1 statistical area had a population of 81 at the

2018 New Zealand census Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the sho ...

, an increase of 3 people (3.8%) since the 2013 census, and unchanged since the

2006 census 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

. There were 45 households, comprising 42 males and 42 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.0 males per female. The median age was 60.3 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 6 people (7.4%) aged under 15 years, 3 (3.7%) aged 15 to 29, 45 (55.6%) aged 30 to 64, and 30 (37.0%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 96.3% European/Pākehā and 7.4% Māori. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 48.1% had no religion, 37.0% were Christian and 3.7% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 18 (24.0%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 18 (24.0%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $24,600, compared with $31,800 nationally. 12 people (16.0%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 24 (32.0%) people were employed full-time and 21 (28.0%) were part-time.

Gulf Islands

The statistical area of Gulf Islands also includes

Rangitoto Island Rangitoto Island is a volcanic island in the Hauraki Gulf near Auckland, New Zealand. The wide island is a symmetrical shield volcano cone, reaching a height of . Rangitoto is the youngest and largest of the approximately 50 volcanoes of the Au ...

Motutapu Island Motutapu Island (otherwise known as ''Motutapu'') is a island in the Hauraki Gulf to the northeast of the city of Auckland, New Zealand. The island is part of the Hauraki Gulf Maritime Park. Its full name, rarely used, is ''Te Motutapu a Taikeh ...

, Browns Island,

Motuihe Island Motuihe Island (official name: Motuihe Island / Te Motu-a-Ihenga) lies between Motutapu and Waiheke islands in the Hauraki Gulf of New Zealand, near Auckland. The island measures , of which around are remnants of coastal forest. The island is ...

and Rakino Island, but Kawau Island has the majority of the population. Gulf Islands covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km². Gulf Islands had a population of 111 at the

, a decrease of 9 people (−7.5%) since the 2013 census, and a decrease of 30 people (−21.3%) since the

. There were 63 households, comprising 57 males and 54 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.06 males per female. The median age was 61.3 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 6 people (5.4%) aged under 15 years, 3 (2.7%) aged 15 to 29, 63 (56.8%) aged 30 to 64, and 42 (37.8%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 94.6% European/Pākehā, 8.1% Māori, and 2.7% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. The percentage of people born overseas was 16.2, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 48.6% had no religion, 37.8% were Christian and 2.7% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 30 (28.6%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 21 (20.0%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $25,200, compared with $31,800 nationally. 18 people (17.1%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 33 (31.4%) people were employed full-time, 24 (22.9%) were part-time, and 3 (2.9%) were unemployed.

Geography

History

Pohutukawa Trust New Zealand

Department of Conservation controlled land

Demographics

Gulf Islands

See also