Great Barrier Island ( mi, Aotea) lies in the outer

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,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 coun ...

, north-east of central

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 I ...

. With an area of it is the sixth-largest island of New Zealand and fourth-largest in the main chain. Its highest point, Mount Hobson, is above sea level.Great Barrier Island Aotea page on the DOC website
(from 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 ...

. Accessed 2008-06-04.) The

local authority Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-l ...

is the

Auckland Council Auckland Council ( mi, Te Kaunihera o Tāmaki Makaurau) is the local government council for the Auckland Region in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority that has the responsibilities, duties and powers of a regional council and so is a ...

. The island was initially exploited for its minerals and kauri trees and saw only limited agriculture. In 2013, it was inhabited by 939 people, from

Statistics New Zealand Statistics New Zealand ( mi, Tatauranga Aotearoa), branded as Stats NZ, is the public service department of New Zealand charged with the collection of statistics related to the economy, population and society of New Zealand. To this end, Stats ...

. mostly living from farming and tourism and all living off-the-grid.Great Barrier Island
(from the

Auckland City Council Auckland City Council was the local government authority for Auckland City, New Zealand, from 1871 to 1 November 2010, when it and Auckland's six other city and district councils were amalgamated to form the Auckland Council. It was an elected b ...

website) The majority of the island (around 60% of the total area) is administered as a nature reserve by the

. The island atmosphere is sometimes described as being "life in New Zealand many decades back".

Etymology

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 Co ...

name of the island is ''Aotea''. It received its English name from

Captain 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 ...

because it acts as a barrier between the Pacific Ocean and the Hauraki Gulf. Entrance to the

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,Colville Channel separates the southernmost point, Cape Barrier, from

Cape Colville Cape Colville is the northernmost point of the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand's North Island. It lies 85 kilometres north of Thames, and 70 kilometres northeast of the city of Auckland, on the other side of the Hauraki Gulf. The small settlem ...

at the northern tip of the Coromandel Peninsula to the south, Cradock Channel from the smaller Little Barrier Island to the west. The island protects the Hauraki Gulf from the ocean surface waves and the currents of the

South Pacific Gyre __NOTOC__ The Southern Pacific Gyre is part of the Earth's system of rotating ocean currents, bounded by the Equator to the north, Australia to the west, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current to the south, and South America to the east. The center ...

. It is not a sandbar barrier, often defined as the correct use of the term. The island's English name stems from its location on the outskirts of the Hauraki Gulf.

Geography

With an area of , Great Barrier Island is the sixth-largest island in New Zealand after the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

, the

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-larges ...

Stewart Island/Rakiura 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 ...

Chatham Island Chatham Island ( ) (Moriori: ''Rēkohu'', 'Misty Sun'; mi, Wharekauri) is by far the largest island of the Chatham Islands group, in the south Pacific Ocean off the eastern coast of New Zealand's South Island. It is said to be "halfway bet ...

, and Auckland Island. The highest point, Mount Hobson or ''Hirakimatā'', is above sea level. Great Barrier is surrounded by several smaller islands, including Kaikoura Island, Rakitu Island, Aiguilles Island and

Dragon Island Dragon Island is a small privately owned island just outside Harataonga Bay, on the northeast coast of Great Barrier Island, located to the northeast of Auckland, in New Zealand. The island provides Harataonga Bay with shelter from easterly ...

. A number of islands are located in Great Barrier bays, including Motukahu Island, Nelson Island, Kaikoura Island, Broken Islands, Motutaiko Island, Rangiahua Island, Little Mahuki Island, Mahuki Island and Junction Islands. With a maximum length (north-south) of some , it and the

Coromandel Peninsula The Coromandel Peninsula ( mi, Te Tara-O-Te-Ika-A-Māui) on the North Island of New Zealand extends north from the western end of the Bay of Plenty, forming a natural barrier protecting the Hauraki Gulf and the Firth of Thames in the ...

(directly to its south) protect the Gulf from the storms of the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...

to the east. Consequently, the island boasts highly contrasting coastal environments. The eastern coast comprises long, sandy beaches, windswept sand-dunes, and at times heavy surf. The western coast, sheltered and calm, is home to hundreds of tiny, secluded bays which offer some of the best diving and boating in the country. The inland holds several large and biologically diverse

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (Anoxic waters, anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in t ...

s, along with rugged hill country (bush or heath in the more exposed heights), as well as old-growth and regenerating kauri forests.

Geology and natural history

Much of Great Barrier Island is formed from remnants of volcanoes associated with the Coromandel Volcanic Zone. The North Great Barrier Volcano, which was centred to the north of the modern island from Whangapoua Bay northwards, formed through events between 18 and 17 million years ago; some of the earliest vulcanism which occurred in the zone. The Great Barrier Volcano formed to the west of the modern island between 15 and 12 million years ago. Much of the modern island is this volcano's eroded eastern flanks. The third volcano, Mount Hobson, is the caldera of a complex

rhyolite Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained (aphanitic) in texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals ( phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained groundmass. The miner ...

dome volcano, which was active between 12 and 8 million years ago. Approximately 17,000 years ago during the

Last Glacial Maximum The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), also referred to as the Late Glacial Maximum, was the most recent time during the Last Glacial Period that ice sheets were at their greatest extent. Ice sheets covered much of Northern North America, Northern Eu ...

, the Hauraki Gulf was a low lying coastal plain as sea levels were over 100 metres lower than present day levels. During this period, Great Barrier Island was landlocked to the rest of the North Island, and bordered by the two major river systems that flowed on the plain.

History and culture

Great Barrier Island (Aotea) is the ancestral land of

Ngāti Rehua Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, ...

Ngātiwai ki Aotea who are the tangata whenua (people of the land) and mana whenua (territorial land rights holders) of Aotea. Ngāti Rehua have occupied Aotea since the 17th century after conquering Aotea from people of Ngāti Manaia and Kawerau descent. In the mid-19th century during the early Colonial era of New Zealand, extensive private and crown land purchases meant only two areas of the Hauraki Gulf remained in Māori ownership: Te Huruhi (

Surfdale Surfdale is a settlement on Waiheke Island in northern New Zealand. The original name being Okahu, Surfdale beach on Huruhi Bay has tidal mudflats, and is often used for windsurfing or kitesurfing. Shelly beach on Pukiki Bay is sandy and shell ...

) on

Waiheke Island Waiheke Island (; Māori: ) is the second-largest island (after Great Barrier Island) in the Hauraki Gulf of New Zealand. Its ferry terminal in Matiatia Bay at the western end is from the central-city terminal in Auckland. It is the most po ...

(2100 acres) on Waiheke and a 3,510 acre parcel of land at Katherine Bay on Great Barrier Island.

Local industries

Mining

Early European interest followed discovery of copper in the remote north, where New Zealand's earliest mines were established at Miners Head in 1842. Traces of these mines remain, largely accessible only by boat. Later, gold and silver were found in the Okupu / Whangaparapara area in the 1890s, and the remains of a

stamping battery Stamp or Stamps or Stamping may refer to: Official documents and related impressions * Postage stamp, used to indicate prepayment of fees for public mail * Ration stamp, indicating the right to rationed goods * Revenue stamp, used on documents ...

on the Whangaparapara Road are a remainder of this time. The sound of the battery working was reputedly audible from the

, 20 km away. In early 2010, a government proposal to remove 705 ha of land on the Te Ahumatā Plateau (called "White Cliffs" by the locals) from Schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act, which gives protection from the mining of public land, was widely criticised. Concerns were that mining for the suspected $4.3 billion in mineral worth in the area would damage both the conservation land as well as the island's tourism economy. Locals were split on the project, some hoping for new jobs. If restarted, mining at White Cliffs would occur in the same area it originally proliferated on Great Barrier. The area's regenerating bushland still holds numerous semi-collapsed or open mining shafts where silver and gold had been mined.

Kauri logging

The kauri logging industry was profitable in early European days and up to the mid-20th century. Forests were well inland, with no easy way to get the logs to the sea or to sawmills. Kauri logs were dragged to a convenient stream bed with steep sides and a driving dam was constructed of wood, with a lifting gate near the bottom large enough for the logs to pass through. When the dam had filled, which might take up to a year, the gate was opened and the logs above the dam were pushed out through the hole and swept down to the sea. The logging industry cut down large amounts of old growth, and most of the current growth is younger native forest (around 150,000 kauri seedlings were planted by the New Zealand Forest Service in the 1970s and 1980s) as well as some remaining kauri in the far north of the island. Much of the island is covered with regenerating bush dominated by kanuka and kauri.

Other industries

Great Barrier Island was the site of New Zealand's last

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 ...

station, at

Whangaparapara Whangaparapara is a harbour and coastal community on Great Barrier Island in New Zealand's Hauraki Gulf. Europeans settled Whangaparapara for mining, timber milling and whaling. It is now a tourism and boating spot, where boats can pick up fuel ...

, which opened in 1956, over a century after the whaling industry peaked in New Zealand, and closed due to depletion of whaling stocks and increasing protection of whales by 1962. Another small-scale industry was kauri gum digging, while dairy farming and sheep farming have tended to play a small role compared to the usual New Zealand practice. A fishing industry collapsed when international fish prices dropped. Islanders are generally occupied in tourism, farming or service-related industries when not working off-island.

Shipwrecks

Great Barrier Island Pigeon-Gram stamp 1899

The remote north was the site of the sinking of the SS ''Wairarapa'' around midnight of 29 October 1894. This was one of New Zealand's worst shipwrecks, with about 140 lives lost, some of them buried in two beach grave sites in the far north. As a result, a Great Barrier Island pigeon post service was set up, the first message being flown on 14 May 1897. Special postage stamps were issued from October 1898 until 1908, when a new communications cable was laid to the mainland, which made the pigeon post redundant. Another major wreck lies in the far southeast, the '' SS Wiltshire''.

Nature reserves

Over time, more and more of the island came under the stewardship of the Department of Conservation (DOC) or its predecessors. Partly this was land that had belonged to the Crown since the 1800s, while other parts were sold or donated like the more than 10% of the island (located in the northern bush area, with some of the largest remaining kauri forests) that was gifted to the Crown by farmer Max Burrill in 1984. DOC has created a large number of walking tracks through the island, some of which are also open for mountain biking. The Aotea Conservation Park has the only multi-day wilderness walk in the Auckland region, boasting two DOC huts and numerous campsites. The Park spreads over more than 12,000 hectares and offers multiple walking tracks for novice and experienced walkers. The island is free of some of the more troublesome introduced pests that plague the native ecosystems of other parts of New Zealand. While it does have wild cats, dogs, feral pigs,

black rat The black rat (''Rattus rattus''), also known as the roof rat, ship rat, or house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent of the stereotypical rat genus ''Rattus'', in the subfamily Murinae. It likely originated in the Indian subcontinent, but is ...

s (''R. rattus''),

Polynesian rat The Polynesian rat, Pacific rat or little rat (''Rattus exulans''), known to the Māori as ''kiore'', is the third most widespread species of rat in the world behind the brown rat and black rat. The Polynesian rat originated in Southeast Asia, a ...

s (''R. exulans'') and mice, there are no known populations of possums,

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 t ...

s (weasels, stoats or ferrets), hedgehogs,

brown rat The brown rat (''Rattus norvegicus''), also known as the common rat, street rat, sewer rat, wharf rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat, Norwegian rat and Parisian rat, is a widespread species of common rat. One of the largest muroids, it is a brown o ...

s (''R. norvegicus''), deer or (since 2006) feral goats, thus being a relative haven for native bird and plant populations. Rare animals found on the island include brown teal ducks,

black petrel The black petrel (''Procellaria parkinsoni''), also called the Parkinson's petrel, is a medium-sized, black-plumaged petrel, the smallest of the ''Procellaria''. The species is an endemic breeder of New Zealand, breeding only on Great Barrier Is ...

seabirds and

kaka Kaka may refer to: People Nickname or given name Sports * Carlos Augusto dos Santos da Silva (born 1987), Brazil-born Italy international futsal player * Kaká (born 1982), Brazilian footballer Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite * Kaká (footballe ...

parrots.Great Barrier Island Aotea brochure, Front
(from the DOC. Accessed 2008-06-04.)

Marae

Great Barrier Island has two

marae A ' (in New Zealand Māori, Cook Islands Māori, Tahitian), ' (in Tongan), ' (in Marquesan) or ' (in Samoan) is a communal or sacred place that serves religious and social purposes in Polynesian societies. In all these languages, the term a ...

affiliated with the local iwi of

and Ngātiwai: the Kawa Marae and its Rehua meeting house, and Motairehe Marae and its Whakaruruhau meeting house. In October 2020, the Government committed $313,007 from the Provincial Growth Fund to upgrade Kawa Marae, creating 6 jobs.

Dark Sky Sanctuary

In 2017, Aotea / Great Barrier Island was accredited as a Dark Sky Sanctuary by the

International Dark-Sky Association The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) is a United States-based non-profit organization incorporated in 1988 by founders David Crawford, a professional astronomer, and Tim Hunter, a physician/amateur astronomer. The mission of the IDA is " ...

. This designation is given for sites in very remote locations to increase awareness of their dark sky characteristics and promote long term conservation. At the time, it was the third International Dark Sky Sanctuary to be designated, and the first island sanctuary.

Population

Great Barrier - Port Fitzroy from top of Selwyn Island 1967

Barrier Islands statistical area, which includes Little Barrier Island and

Mokohinau Islands The Mokohinau Islands (Pokohinau) are a small group of islands that lie off the northeast coast of New Zealand's North Island. The islands are 100 km (62 mi) northeast of Auckland, northwest of Great Barrier Island and approximately ...

although they have no permanent inhabitants, covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km². Barrier Islands had a population of 930 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 short ...

, a decrease of 3 people (−0.3%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 63 people (7.3%) since the 2006 census. There were 531 households, comprising 501 males and 429 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.17 males per female. The median age was 52.6 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 138 people (14.8%) aged under 15 years, 90 (9.7%) aged 15 to 29, 477 (51.3%) aged 30 to 64, and 225 (24.2%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 91.3% European/Pākehā, 20.6% Māori, 2.6% Pacific peoples, 1.3% Asian, and 1.9% other ethnicities. Percentages may add up to more than 100% as people may identify with more than one ethnicity. The percentage of people born overseas was 18.4, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 62.6% had no religion, 24.5% were Christian, 1.3% had Māori religious beliefs, 1.0% were Buddhist and 1.6% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 144 (18.2%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 144 (18.2%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $21,300, compared with $31,800 nationally. 48 people (6.1%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 279 (35.2%) people were employed full-time, 168 (21.2%) were part-time, and 57 (7.2%) were unemployed.

Settlements

The population lives mostly in coastal settlements. Tryphena, in Tryphena Harbour at the southern end, is the largest settlement. Other communities are Okupu and

in the south-west, Port Fitzroy and Okiwi in the north, and

Claris Claris International Inc., formerly FileMaker Inc., is a computer software development company formed as a subsidiary company of Apple Inc., Apple Computer (now Apple Inc.) in 1987. It was given the source code and copyrights to several program ...

and Medlands in the south-east. The population swells substantially from October to May. The island has become a favourite holiday destination in the darker months, due its superbly dark sky and the astrophotography and stargazing opportunities this offers. In 2017 the island was give
Dark Sky Sanctuary status
by the IDA. Its relative remoteness offers solitude, and the sustainable off-grid lifestyle of its inhabitants is something many visitors like to experience. Without reticulated electricity, most houses use solar panels and a battery bank to generate and store power. Wind and water turbines and solar water heaters are also used. Diesel generators, which used to be the main power source, are now mostly used as back-up. From the end of February 2007, the island was seen around the world as the setting for the BBC One reality show ''

Castaway A castaway is a person who is cast adrift or ashore. While the situation usually happens after a shipwreck, some people voluntarily stay behind on a deserted island, either to evade captors or the world in general. A person may also be left as ...

'', which was filmed there for three months. Port Fitzroy Ferry At The Wharf

Transport

There are two airfields,

Great Barrier Aerodrome Great Barrier Aerodrome is the major airfield on Great Barrier Island. It is a small, uncontrolled aerodrome at Claris on Great Barrier Island in the Hauraki Gulf off the North Island of New Zealand. Fuel is not available. The town of Cla ...

at Claris and Okiwi Airfield.

Barrier Air Barrier Air is a New Zealand airline that was established in 1983 by Jim Bergman as Great Barrier Airlines. The head office is located at the Domestic Terminal at Auckland Airport in Mangere, with additional offices in the terminal buildings ...

operate services from Auckland Airport and North Shore Aerodrome to Claris. Flight time is approximately 35 minutes from Auckland Airport. Barrier Air will also commence a service from Claris to Tauranga in December 2022.

Sunair Sunair is an airline based in New Zealand. It operates scheduled services in the North Island. Headquartered in Tauranga, the airline flies to Hamilton, Ardmore, Whangarei, Whitianga, Motiti Island and Great Barrier Island.

operates between Claris and

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilto ...

Tauranga Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...

Whangārei Whangārei () is the northernmost city in New Zealand and the regional capital of Northland Region. It is part of the Whangārei District, a local body created in 1989 from the former Whangārei City, Whangārei County and Hikurangi Town coun ...

and Whitianga.
SeaLink
operates a passenger, car and freight ferry. This ferry operates from Wynyard Wharf in Auckland city to Tryphena (several times weekly). Sailing time is approximately four and a half hours. Other travel options: Barrier Express fast ferry from Sandspit or Auckland. Flight Hauraki, Christian Aviation, Auckland Seaplanes, Heletranz, Oceania Helicopters.

Civic institutions

Institutions and services are primarily provided by the

, the local authority. Services and infrastructure like roads and the wharves at Tryphena and Whangaparapara are subsidised, with the island receiving about $4 in services for every $1 in rates. The Port FitzRoy wharf is owned by the North Barrier Residents and Ratepayers Association. There are three primary schools: Mulberry Grove School at Tryphena, Kaitoke School at Claris, and Okiwi School. There is no secondary school, but there is a learning hub to assist students who learn through the New Zealand Correspondence School. Many children leave the island when they reach secondary school age to attend boarding school on the mainland. Previously, the lack of secondary schooling was cited as one of the reasons for a slow exodus of long-term resident families. As part of Auckland the rules governing daily activities and applicable standards for civic works and services exists, shared with some of the other inhabited islands of the Hauraki Gulf. Driving rules are the same as for the rest of NZ and registration and a Warrant of Fitness are required for all vehicles. For example, every transport service operated solely on the island, the

Chatham Islands The Chatham Islands ( ) (Moriori: ''Rēkohu'', 'Misty Sun'; mi, Wharekauri) are an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean about east of New Zealand's South Island. They are administered as part of New Zealand. The archipelago consists of about t ...

, or

is exempt from section 70C of the Transport Act 1962, the requirements for drivers to maintain driving-hours logbooks. Drivers subject to section 70B must nevertheless keep records of their driving hours in some form. Rules governing dog control are the same as for Auckland. Dogs must be kept on a lead in all public places.

Notable residents

* Fanny Osborne (1852–1934), artist * Jamison Gibson-Park, rugby union player * * Paul Silva (1897–1974), soldier, timber worker, axeman and bridge builder

References

External links

Articles/Stories of Great Barrier Island history, locals, issues, lifestyle
Photographs of Great Barrier Island
held in Auckland Libraries, Auckland Libraries' heritage collections * * The official visitor
website
for the island {{Authority control Islands of the Auckland Region