Tiritiri Matangi Island is located in 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,Whangaparaoa Peninsula in 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 ...

and north east 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 I ...

. The island is an open

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological o ...

managed by the Supporters of Tiritiri Matangi Incorporated, under the supervision 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 ...

and is noted for its

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

life, including

takahē The South Island takahē (''Porphyrio hochstetteri'') is a flightless swamphen indigenous to New Zealand and the largest living member of the rail family. It is often known by the abbreviated name takahē, which it shares with the recently ...

North Island kōkako The North Island kōkako (''Callaeas wilsoni'') is an endangered forest bird which is endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. It is grey in colour, with a small black mask. It has blue wattles (although this colour develops with age: in the ...

and kiwi. It attracts between 30,000 and 32,000 visitors a year, the latter figure being the maximum allowed by the Auckland Conservation Management Strategy. The name,

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 ...

for "tossed by the wind", is often popularly shortened to Tiritiri. Māori mythology considers the island to be a float of an ancestral fishing net.

History

Human use

The first people to settle on the island were

of the

Kawerau Kawerau is a town in the Bay of Plenty region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is situated 100 km south-east of Tauranga and 58 km east of Rotorua. It is the seat of the Kawerau District Council, and the only town in Kawerau Distri ...

iwi. Later, members of the Ngāti Pāoa moved to the island, like the Kawerau partly for

shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachi ...

fishing until about 1700, when the Kawerau regained control and remained until forced to retreat to

Waikato Waikato () is a local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsul ...

in 1821 when

Hongi Hika Hongi Hika ( – 6 March 1828) was a New Zealand Māori rangatira (chief) and war leader of the iwi of Ngāpuhi. He was a pivotal figure in the early years of regular European contact and settlement in New Zealand. As one of the first Māor ...

attacked from the north. There were two

pā The word pā (; often spelled pa in English) can refer to any Māori village or defensive settlement, but often refers to hillforts – fortified settlements with palisades and defensive terraces – and also to fortified villages. Pā sites ...

, Tiritiri Matangi Pā and Papakura Pā. European (

Pākehā Pākehā (or Pakeha; ; ) is a Māori term for New Zealanders primarily of European descent. Pākehā is not a legal concept and has no definition under New Zealand law. The term can apply to fair-skinned persons, or to any non-Māori New Z ...

) settlers arrived in the early 19th century. In 1841 Ngāti Pāoa sold the land to the crown as part of the Mahurangi Block. When the Kawerau returned, friction ensued as both peoples had a claim to the island. In 1867 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 Cou ...

awarded title to the Crown. A lighthouse was constructed near the southern end in 1864, and remains in operation. In 1956, a xenon light source was fitted to the lighthouse, creating the most powerful light-beam achieved at the time by a New Zealand lighthouse. It had an output of 11 million candle-power and a range of 58 nautical miles, making it one of the most powerful lights in the world; most lights shone for 27 nautical miles. The island was farmed from the mid 1800s to 1971, when the lease expired. Management was then vested in the Hauraki Gulf Maritime Park Board.

Regeneration and sanctuary

The island was chosen as a unique and protected place to provide a public window for rare New Zealand native birds on the edge of a large city and it also lacked introduced predators such as

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 which were present on the mainland. At that time, although the island was devoid of suitable habitat and food sources, the hope was that native

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

would regenerate naturally. It became apparent that natural afforestation was happening very slowly because a forest can only grow at its margins, and the island was covered mostly with dense grass and bracken fern. A plan was formulated to establish a nursery to collect cuttings and seed in order to expand the small pockets of forest habitat that were left in some of the valleys. Pohutukawa was chosen as the main tree as it would eventually provide perches and roosts for birds who would then excrete the seed of the fruits that they had been eating, which would then germinate around the pohutukawa. The next intervention was eradication in 1993 of the

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 ...

, known to Māori as ''kiore'', which was destroying seedlings and competing with birds for food. The kiore were killed by an aerial drop of poisoned bait, which was controversial due to its lack of planning and the effect on other wildlife. For instance, 90% of pukeko on the island were killed, though the resident takahē were kept in an enclosure for the duration of the poisoning. Eighty-seven species of birds have been observed on or near the island. Eleven native species have been translocated to the island as part of the ongoing restoration project.Tiritiri Matangi Ecosystem Restoration
(from the Department of Conservation website) These are

red-crowned parakeet The red-crowned parakeet (''Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae''), also known as red-fronted parakeet and by its Māori name of kākāriki,Parr, M., Juniper, T., D'Silva, C., Powell, D., Johnston, D., Franklin, K., & Restall, R. (2010). Parrots: A Guid ...

(kākāriki, ''Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae''),

North Island saddleback The North Island saddleback (''Philesturnus rufusater'') is a forest-dwelling passerine bird species endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. It was once considered conspecific with the South Island saddleback. The IUCN lists the species as Ne ...

(tīeke, ''Philesturnus rufusater''), brown teal (pāteke, ''Anas chlorotis''), whitehead (pōpokotea, ''Mohoua albicilla''),

(''Porphyrio hochstetteri''),

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 ...

(''Apteryx owenii''),

stitchbird The stitchbird or hihi (''Notiomystis cincta'') is a honeyeater-like bird endemic to the North Island and adjacent offshore islands of New Zealand. Its evolutionary relationships have long puzzled ornithologists, but it is now classed as the o ...

(hihi, ''Notiomystis cincta''),

(''Callaeas wilsoni''), fernbird (mātātā, ''Poodytes punctatus''), North Island tomtit (miromiro, ''Petroica macrocephala toitoi)'', and

rifleman A rifleman is an infantry soldier armed with a rifled long gun. Although the rifleman role had its origin with 16th century hand cannoneers and 17th century musketeers, the term originated in the 18th century with the introduction of the ri ...

(titipounamu, ''Acanthisitta chloris''). Non-avian translocations include 60

tuatara Tuatara (''Sphenodon punctatus'') are reptiles endemic to New Zealand. Despite their close resemblance to lizards, they are part of a distinct lineage, the order Rhynchocephalia. The name ''tuatara'' is derived from the Māori language and m ...

in 2003, Duvaucel's gecko in 2006 and a large insect wetapunga in 2011. Non-native species still present include the Australian brown quail. The success of the conservation project encouraged the creation of a number of similar projects around the

Gulf A gulf is a large inlet from the ocean into the landmass, typically with a narrower opening than a bay, but that is not observable in all geographic areas so named. The term gulf was traditionally used for large highly-indented navigable bodie ...

, such as on Motuihe, Motuora and

Motutapu 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 ...

. The closest land on the tip of the Whangaparaoa Peninsula, Shakespear Regional Park has recently (2011) also become a mammalian pest-free fenced sanctuary, increasing immigration of the birds on Tiritiri to the nearby mainland. Tiritiri Matangi Wharf

A ferry service runs from

Auckland Ferry Terminal The Auckland Ferry Terminal, also called the Downtown Ferry Terminal, is the hub of the Auckland ferry network, which connects the Auckland CBD with suburbs in North Shore, West Auckland, and South Auckland, and islands in the Hauraki Gulf. Th ...

and Gulf Harbour, and guided tours are available. It is a popular destination for daytrippers, with trips often fully booked, attracting some 30,000 visitors annually, who enjoy an intensity of birdsong rarely heard on the mainland. The island has hosted several tens of thousands of conservation volunteers. Saddleback tiritiri

References

External links

Supporters of Tiritiri Matangi
- conservation group
Tiritiri Matangi Scientific Reserve (Open Sanctuary)
at the Department of Conservation
Audio tour of Tiritiri Matangi, part 1
(Graeme Hill)
Audio tour of Tiritiri Matangi, part 2
(Graeme Hill)

held in Auckland Libraries' heritage collections. * {{Authority control Islands of the Hauraki Gulf Protected areas of the Auckland Region Nature reserves in New Zealand Island restoration Islands of the Auckland Region

History

Human use

Regeneration and sanctuary

See also

References

External links