Pitt Island (

Moriori The Moriori are the first settlers of the Chatham Islands ( in Moriori language, Moriori; in Māori language, Māori). Moriori are Polynesians who came from the New Zealand mainland around 1500 AD, which was close to the time of the ...

: , ) is the second largest island in New Zealand's

Chatham Islands The Chatham Islands ( ; Moriori language, Moriori: , 'Misty Sun'; ) are an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean about east of New Zealand's South Island, administered as part of New Zealand, and consisting of about 10 islands within an approxima ...

, with an area of . It lies about to the east of New Zealand's main islands, and about to the southeast of

Chatham Island Chatham Island ( ) ( Moriori: , 'Misty Sun'; ) is 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 between the equator and the pole, a ...

, from which it is separated by

Pitt Strait Pitt Strait is a channel, wide, separating Chatham Island and Pitt Island, the two largest islands in New Zealand's Chatham Islands The Chatham Islands ( ; Moriori language, Moriori: , 'Misty Sun'; ) are an archipelago in the Pacific Oce ...

. The island is hilly; its highest point (Waihere Head) rises to above sea level. , Pitt Island had a population of about 38 people. KahuitaraPoint

Pitt Island's Kahuitara Point is the first populated location on Earth to observe a sunrise in each new year, based on local time zone.

History

Pitt Island was originally inhabited by the

, the

indigenous peoples There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

of the Chatham Islands, who called it ''Rangiaotea'' or ''Rangihaute''. Their

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

remains are found almost everywhere on the island; large quantities of artefacts are constantly coming to light. No remains of momori rakau are visible on the island, but there are records of them once being present. The first Europeans to see and name Chatham Island were the crew of

William Robert Broughton William Robert Broughton (22 March 176214 March 1821) was a British naval officer in the late 18th century. As a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, he commanded HMS ''Chatham'' as part of the Vancouver Expedition, a voyage of exploration through t ...

's ship in November 1791. However, they did not see Pitt Island. The first to do so was Captain Charles Johnston on in May 1807. He named it 'Pitt's Island' after

William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham (15 November 170811 May 1778) was a British people, British British Whig Party, Whig politician, statesman who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1766 to 1768. Historians call him "Chatham" or "Pit ...

. In 1840, the name was simplified to "Pitt" Island. Taranaki Maori who invaded the Chatham Islands in 1835 called it ''Rangiauria'', a name which is still in use today. Over the years there have been many ships wrecked around both Pitt and Chatham Islands. One of these was the Australian sealing

brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the l ...

''Glory'', which was wrecked on Pitt Island in what became known as Glory Bay in January 1827. European settlers arrived in the

Flower Pot Bay Flowerpot Bay, also spelt Flower Pot Bay, is a small bay, some 250 m across, on the north coast of Pitt Island in the Chatham Islands group of New Zealand. With a jetty at its western end, it is the main point of access by sea to the island ...

in 1843.

Economy and facilities

The main sources of income for Pitt Islanders are farming, commercial fishing, and tourism. The

New Zealand Department of Conservation The Department of Conservation (DOC; Māori language, 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 ...

is active on Pitt Island and, in conjunction with several landowners, administers a number of covenanted areas and reserves. The island imports fuel and most manufactured goods, and exports live sheep and cattle to mainland New Zealand. The island has a school, a

wharf A wharf ( or wharfs), quay ( , also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more Berth (mo ...

, a church and a grass

landing strip In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (grass, dirt, gravel, ic ...

for light planes. A gravel road runs from

to the airstrip. A supply ship visits Pitt Island about every three months. Each household generates its own electricity, by either

diesel generator A diesel generator (DG) (also known as a diesel genset) is the combination of a diesel engine with an electric generator (often an alternator) to generate electrical energy. This is a specific case of an engine generator. A diesel compress ...

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that wind power, converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of list of most powerful wind turbines, large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over ...

. Most homes have satellite TV and

broadband internet In telecommunications, broadband or high speed is the wide- bandwidth data transmission that exploits signals at a wide spread of frequencies or several different simultaneous frequencies, and is used in fast Internet access. The transmission m ...

connections. Transport on the island is mostly by means of

quad bike An all-terrain vehicle (ATV), also known as a light utility vehicle (LUV), a quad bike or quad (if it has four wheels), as defined by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), is a vehicle that travels on low-pressure tires, has a seat ...

four wheel drive The Four Wheel Drive Auto Company, more often known as Four Wheel Drive (FWD), was a pioneering American company that developed and produced all-wheel drive vehicles. It was founded in 1909 in Clintonville, Wisconsin, as the Badger Four-Wheel Dr ...

s and occasionally horses. In 2011, the Pitt Island School had eight children, aged between 6 and 12 years.

Air Chathams Air Chathams Limited is an airline based in the Chatham Islands, New Zealand. It was established in 1984 and operates scheduled passenger services between the Chatham Islands and mainland New Zealand along with routes between Auckland and Whak ...

operates from Pitt Island to Chatham Island with their

Cessna 206 The Cessna 205, 206 and 207, known primarily as the Stationair (and marketed variously as the Super Skywagon, Skywagon and Super Skylane), are a family of single-engined, general aviation aircraft with fixed landing gear, used in commercial air ...

Fauna and flora

On Pitt Island there are several flocks of

feral A feral (; ) animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in som ...

Saxon Merino The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian "stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like them ...

sheep.

References

External links

Moriori Education Resources OnlineOfficial Moriori Website
With Information on Pitt Island Moriori {{Chatham Islands Islands of the Chatham Islands Islands of the Pacific Ocean William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham

History

Economy and facilities

Fauna and flora

See also

References

External links