Kapiti Island () is an island about off the west coast of the lower

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

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 country ...

. It is long, running southwest/northeast, and roughly wide, being more or less rectangular in shape, and has an area of . Its name has been used since 1989 by the

Kapiti Coast District The Kapiti Coast District is a local government district of the Wellington Region in the lower North Island of New Zealand, 50 km north of Wellington City. The district is named after Kapiti Island, a prominent island offshore. The popu ...

Council, which includes towns such as Paekakariki,

Raumati South Raumati South is a coastal community on the Kapiti Coast of New Zealand's North Island. It is 50km north-west of Wellington, and immediately south of Raumati Beach and south-west of Paraparaumu. The Maungakotukutuku area is located inland.Raumat ...

, Paraparaumu and

Waikanae Waikanae (, ) is a town on the Kapiti Coast, 60 kilometres north of the Wellington CBD. The name is a Māori word meaning "waters" (''wai'') "of the grey mullet". The town lies between Paraparaumu, eight kilometres to the southwest, and Ōt ...

. The island is separated from the North Island by the Rauoterangi Channel. The highest point on the island is Tūteremoana, . The seaward (west) side of the island is particularly rocky and has high cliffs, some hundreds of metres high, that drop straight into the sea. The cliffs are subject to very strong prevailing westerly winds and the scrubby vegetation that grows there is low and stunted by the harsh environmental conditions. A cross-section of the island would show almost a right-angled triangle, revealing its origins from lying on a fault line (part of the same ridge as the

Tararua Range The Tararua Range, often referred to as the Tararua Ranges or Tararua, is one of several mountain ranges in the North Island of New Zealand. The Tararua Range runs northeast–southwest for from near Palmerston North to the upper reaches of ...

). The island's vegetation is dominated by scrub and forest of

kohekohe Kohekohe ('' Dysoxylum spectabile'') is a medium-sized tree in the Meliaceae family, native to New Zealand. It is found in lowland and coastal forests throughout most of the North Island and also occurs in the Marlborough Sounds in the nor ...

, tawa, and kanuka. Most of the forest is regenerating after years of burn-offs and farming, but some areas of original bush remain, with trees.

Name and etymology

The full original name for the island is Te Waewae-Kapiti-o-Tara-rāua-ko-Rangitāne, meaning "the boundary of Tara and Rangitāne" and referring to it as a place where the rohe (territories) of Ngāi Tara (now known as Muaūpoko) and

Rangitāne Rangitāne is a Māori iwi (tribe). Their rohe (territory) is in the Manawatū, Horowhenua, Wairarapa and Marlborough areas of New Zealand.iwi adjoined each other. The word ''kapiti'' (meaning 'to be joined') is spelt without a macron, and is unrelated to the word ''kāpiti'' (cabbage). The island does not have an official name, but is recorded on topographical maps and hence in the New Zealand Gazetteer as ''Kapiti Island''. In 2010 the Māori Language Commission acknowledged that, while the ordinary word ''kapiti'' does not have a macron, iwi of the Kāpiti region have evidence from history and local pronunciation that the place name is a variant form of ''āpiti'', and that ''Kāpiti'' (with a macron) is correct. The island also became known by

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 ...

as Motu Rongonui, or the "famous island". When

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 ...

visited New Zealand during his 1770 survey, he called it Entry Island, but Cook's name did not come into common use.

History

The

Kapiti Coast The Kapiti Coast District is a local government district of the Wellington Region in the lower North Island of New Zealand, 50 km north of Wellington City. The district is named after Kapiti Island, a prominent island offshore. The po ...

region has been occupied by Māori since the 12th century. Around the year 1150, Māori navigator Whātonga of the waka '' Kurahaupō'' divided the country into two sections: land from the southern tip of Kapiti Island north was given to his son Tautoki and his ancestors, who became

Rangitāne Rangitāne is a Māori iwi (tribe). Their rohe (territory) is in the Manawatū, Horowhenua, Wairarapa and Marlborough areas of New Zealand.iwi, and from the southern tip south was given to his son Tara and ancestors (Ngāi Tara, now known as Muaūpoko). The traditional name for the island refers to this division between Ngāi Tara and Rangitāne. The island was surveyed in 1770 during the

first voyage of James Cook The first voyage of James Cook was a combined Royal Navy and Royal Society expedition to the south Pacific Ocean aboard HMS ''Endeavour'', from 1768 to 1771. It was the first of three Pacific voyages of which James Cook was the commander. Th ...

. In the early 1800s, the island was in the rohe of Muaūpoko.

Te Rauparaha Te Rauparaha (c.1768 – 27 November 1849) was a Māori rangatira (chief) and war leader of the Ngāti Toa tribe who took a leading part in the Musket Wars, receiving the nickname "the Napoleon of the South". He was influential in the origina ...

Ngāti Toa Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Toarangatira or Ngāti Toa Rangatira, is a Māori '' iwi'' (tribe) based in the southern North Island and in the northern South Island of New Zealand. Its '' rohe'' (tribal area) extends from Whanganui in the north, Palmersto ...

saw the advantage of settling on Kapiti Island, after noticing how Western ships frequented the Cook Strait area. In 1822, Te Rauparaha led a migration of Ngāti Toa from

Kawhia Harbour Kawhia Harbour (Maori: ''Kāwhia'') is one of three large natural inlets in the Tasman Sea coast of the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. It is located to the south of Raglan Harbour, Ruapuke and Aotea Harbour, 40 kilometres sout ...

to settle on Kapiti Island and

, securing it from Muaūpoko in 1823. The tribe regularly sailed in canoes on raiding journeys up to the

Whanganui River The Whanganui River is a major river in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the country's third-longest river, and has special status owing to its importance to the region's Māori people. In March 2017 it became the world's second natu ...

and down to Marlborough. In the Battle of Waiorua (1824) the Ngāti Toa destroyed a force of 2,000 mainland warriors who had landed at the northern end of Kapiti in an attempt to capture the island. Te Rauparaha encouraged European ships to visit Kapiti, which by 1830 became a centre for the New Zealand flax trade. In the 1830s and 1840s, the island became one of the most developed areas in the country for

whaling Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industr ...

, due to the South Taranaki Bight and

Cook Strait Cook Strait ( mi, Te Moana-o-Raukawa) separates the North and South Islands of New Zealand. The strait connects the Tasman Sea on the northwest with the South Pacific Ocean on the southeast. It is wide at its narrowest point,McLintock, A H, ...

being whale nurseries. During whaling times 2,000 people were based on the island. Oil was melted from the

blubber Blubber is a thick layer of vascularized adipose tissue under the skin of all cetaceans, pinnipeds, penguins, and sirenians. Description Lipid-rich, collagen fiber-laced blubber comprises the hypodermis and covers the whole body, excep ...

and shipped to America for use in machinery before petroleum was used. Five whaling stations were established on Kapiti, with three additional stations on the offshore islets of Tokomapuna, Motungarara and Tahoramaurea to the south-east. During this period, the island was forested with rātā, kahikatea and rimu. After the collapse of the whaling industry in the 1840s, whalers and their families left the island. By 1850, no Ngāti Toa permanently lived on the island, occasionally visiting for the island's resources. During this period, the land was leased to European farmers and was deforested. Between 1874 and the 1890s, the

Māori Land Court The Māori Land Court (Māori: Te Kōti Whenua Māori) is the specialist court of record in New Zealand that hears matters relating to Māori land. Māori Land Court history The Māori Land Court was established in 1865 as the Native Land Co ...

partitioned the island into blocks, primarily owned by Western Maori MP Wiremu Parata and his family members. In the 1890s, the Wellington Acclimatisation Society requested that Alfred Ross, a leaseholder and sheep farmer on the island, turn his farm into a game reserve, releasing quail, pheasants and later possums onto the island. By 1895, the government had begun considering making Kapiti Island into a wildlife reserve, due to the losses in native flora and fauna caused by introduced predators and deforestation across mainland New Zealand. Parata and his family members protested these plans, and in 1896 stated that they had no intention of selling the land to the government – by this time, Kapiti Island was the only part of the Ngāti Toa rohe still in Māori ownership. In 1897, the government passed the Kapiti Island Public Reserve Act, preventing land blocks on Kapiti Island being sold into private hands, in order to create a nature reserve in the future. By the 1900s, most of the island had been acquired by the New Zealand government for the reserve, except for a section in the north. As the land could no longer be leased to European farmers, the land was farmed directly by Ngāti Toa as a sheep farm by the Webber family. In 1934, many oil-covered and dead seabirds were discovered on the island and the mainland beaches after an oil spill or dumping event. The Webber family continued to farm on the island until the 1950s, most land being sold in 1967, however Ngāti Toa retain some land and rights of access to the island. In 1987 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, ...

(DOC) took over administration of the island. In the 1980s and 1990s efforts were made to return the island to a natural state. First, sheep and possums were removed, then, in an action few thought possible for an island of its size,

rat Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus '' Rattus''. Other rat genera include ''Neotoma'' (pack rats), ''Bandicota'' (bandicoo ...

s were eradicated in 1998. In 2003 the anonymous Biodiversity Action Group claimed to have released 11 possums on the island, but no evidence of such possums was found.

Present day

The island is the site of Kapiti Island Nature Reserve and adjoins the Kapiti Marine Reserve. Most of it is in New Zealand Crown ownership. The island is home to a number of native birds, mostly re-introduced. These include takahe, North Island kōkako, brown teal, stitchbird (hihi), North Island saddleback (tieke), tomtit (miromiro),

fantail Fantails are small insectivorous songbirds of the genus ''Rhipidura'' in the family Rhipiduridae, native to Australasia, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Most of the species are about long, specialist aerial feeders, and named as "f ...

(piwakawaka),

morepork The morepork (''Ninox novaeseelandiae''), also called the ruru, is a small brown owl found in New Zealand, Norfolk Island and formerly Lord Howe Island. The bird has almost 20 alternative common names, including mopoke and boobook—many o ...

(ruru),

weka The weka, also known as the Māori hen or woodhen (''Gallirallus australis'') is a flightless bird species of the rail family. It is endemic to New Zealand. It is the only extant member of the genus ''Gallirallus''. Four subspecies are recogniz ...

and North Island robin (toutouwai). The

brown kiwi Kiwi ( ) are flightless birds endemic to New Zealand of the order Apterygiformes. The five extant species fall into the family Apterygidae () and genus ''Apteryx'' (). Approximately the size of a domestic chicken, kiwi are by far the smalle ...

and

little spotted kiwi The little spotted kiwi or little grey kiwi (''Apteryx owenii'') is a small flightless bird in the kiwi family Apterygidae. It is the smallest species of all five kiwis, at about , about the size of a bantam. It is endemic to New Zealand, and i ...

were released on the island between 1890 and 1910, and the island is now the stronghold for the latter species. Rat eradication has led to increases in red-fronted parakeets, North Island robin, bellbirds, and saddlebacks and the island is considered one of

's most important sites for bird recovery, as well as a major breeding site, for seabirds. In April 2005, the critically endangered short-tailed bat was introduced to the island from a threatened population in the Tararuas, providing them with a separate, safer

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

. Owing to the proximity of

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, there are regular tourist trips to the island, limited to 160 people per day, and it is an especially popular destination for birdwatchers. Having no natural

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fu ...

ian predators, New Zealand birds are trusting, and a visitor to the island is likely to be rewarded by seeing a number of different species. On 14 June 2007, one of the buildings at the Department of Conservation ranger station caught fire, sparking a major emergency operation to prevent the spread of fire to the native bush. Thirty firefighters were flown to the island and managed to contain the blaze, preventing serious damage to the ecosystem. A

stoat The stoat (''Mustela erminea''), also known as the Eurasian ermine, Beringian ermine and ermine, is a mustelid native to Eurasia and the northern portions of North America. Because of its wide circumpolar distribution, it is listed as Least Con ...

, an introduced

mustelid The Mustelidae (; from Latin ''mustela'', weasel) are a family of carnivorous mammals, including weasels, badgers, otters, ferrets, martens, minks and wolverines, among others. Mustelids () are a diverse group and form the largest family in th ...

responsible for decimating the bird life in New Zealand, was seen on the island in December 2010, and by August the next year the

had killed three of them. It is thought that they could not have swum the five-kilometre stretch of open sea from the Kapiti Coast. Kapiti Island is one of Wellington region's “coastal habitats of significance for indigenous birds”. It provides predator free nesting habitat to little blue penguins, red-billed gulls, white-fronted terns and the

reef heron Reef heron could refer to: * Western reef heron The western reef heron (''Egretta gularis''), also called the western reef egret, is a medium-sized heron found in southern Europe, Africa and parts of Asia. It has a mainly coastal distribution and ...

. A further four Nationally Threatened or At Risk species occur on the coast of Kapiti Island including the black shag, the

Caspian tern The Caspian tern (''Hydroprogne caspia'') is a species of tern, with a subcosmopolitan but scattered distribution. Despite its extensive range, it is monotypic of its genus, and has no accepted subspecies. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ' ...

, the pied shag and the variable oystercatcher.

References

External links

Kapiti Island Nature Reserve
Department of Conservation {{Authority control Islands of the Wellington Region Kapiti Coast District Island restoration Whaling in New Zealand Whaling stations in New Zealand Nature reserves in New Zealand Wildlife sanctuaries of New Zealand Protected areas of the Wellington Region

Name and etymology

History

Present day

See also

References

Further reading

External links