The Brothers () is a group of small islands in

Cook Strait Cook Strait () is a strait that separates the North Island, 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, ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, off the east coast of Cape Koamaru,

Arapaoa Island Arapaoa Island (formerly spelled Arapawa Island) is the second-largest island in the Marlborough Sounds, at the north-east tip of the South Island of New Zealand. The island has a land area of . Queen Charlotte Sound defines its western side, ...

. The islands are a restricted-access wildlife sanctuary administered by the

Department of Conservation Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

.Brothers Island Lighthouse
Maritime New Zealand, retrieved 19 May 2023

Islands

The Brothers form two small island groups, each containing one main island and a number of tiny islets. The main islands are simply called North Brother and South Brother. South Brother is the larger of the two, covering some , but the North Brother is slightly more elevated, rising to . Most of the smaller islets lie in a small arc south of North Brother, with the largest being only some one hectare in area. Awash Rock is about south of The Brothers. At high water it is just visible, but strong currents flow around it, as they do between Cape Koamaru and The Brothers, where there are often over falls and

whirlpool A whirlpool is a body of rotating water produced by opposing currents or a current running into an obstacle. Small whirlpools form when a bath or a sink is draining. More powerful ones formed in seas or oceans may be called maelstroms ( ). ''Vo ...

History

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 for the group, ''Ngāwhatu-kai-ponu'', literally means "the eyes that witnessed" and according to tradition it refers to the eyeballs of the giant octopus,

Te Wheke-a-Muturangi In Māori mythology, Te Wheke-a-Muturangi is a monstrous octopus destroyed in Whekenui Bay, Tory Channel or at Patea by Kupe the navigator. The octopus was a pet or familiar of Muturangi, a powerful tohunga of Hawaiki. The wheke was n ...

, that

Kupe Kupe was a legendary Polynesian explorer who, according to Māori oral history, was the first person to discover New Zealand. He is generally held to have been born to a father from Rarotonga and a mother from Raiatea, and probably spoke a ...

battled. The islets were considered '' tapu'' to

. Paddlers making their first crossing of Raukawa/Cook Strait were blindfolded with kawakawa leaves as it was considered bad luck to see the islands on their first crossing;

tohunga In the culture of the Māori people, Māori of New Zealand, a tohunga (tōhuka in Southern Māori dialect) is an expert practitioner of any skill or art, either religious or otherwise. Tohunga include expert priests, healers, navigators, carvers, ...

and

ariki An ariki (New Zealand, Cook Islands), ꞌariki ( Easter Island), aliki (Tokelau, Tuvalu), ali‘i (Samoa, Hawai‘i), ari'i (Society Islands, Tahiti), Rotuma) aiki or hakaiki ( Marquesas Islands), akariki (Gambier Islands) or ‘eiki (Tonga) is o ...

were exempted from this rule.Ngāwhatu Kai-ponu/The Brothers
Christopher Cookson, Marlboroughonline.co.nz, 27 March 2020 15:26, retrieved 19 May 2023 During Captain

James Cook Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...

's first visit to the area, HMS ''Endeavour'' was very nearly wrecked on the Brothers, as a lack of wind and strong tide drove the ship towards the rocks. A change in the direction of the tide saved the ship.The Brothers Islands and Lighthouse
an adaption from a Loreen Brehaut article for the Seaport News 2010 and update May 2020, retrieved 19 May 2023

Lighthouse

The Brothers Island lighthouse is located on the summit of North Brother. The lighthouse was built in 1877 and is New Zealand's only rock station.McKinnon, M.
Arapawa Island to Port Underwood
, ''

Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand ''Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand'' is an online encyclopedia established in 2001 by the New Zealand Government's Ministry for Culture and Heritage. The web-based content was developed in stages over the next several years; the first s ...

''. 18 Jun 2015. Accessed 15 September 2018. It replaced the Mana Island lighthouse. The first call for a lighthouse on the Brothers was in 1851 after the ''Maria'' sank near

Cape Terawhiti Cape Terawhiti is the southwesternmost point of the North Island of New Zealand. The cape is located to the west of Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. Ohau Point, located on the northern tip of Cape Terawhiti and, along with Peran ...

. When a lighthouse was erected on Mana Island to serve Cook Strait comment was made in the Marlborough Press that despite the expense it would have been better to have put one on the Brothers. This request was again repeated in the

Evening Post ''Evening Post'' or ''The Evening Post'' may refer to the following newspapers: United Kingdom * ''Evening Post'' (London) (1710–1732), then ''Berington's Evening Post'' (1732–1740) * ''London Evening Post'' (1727–1797) * '' ...

in 1870. In 1867 ''SS Queen'' sank after hitting Cook's Rock, just to the north of the Brothers; Cook's Rock was lit by a red light once the lighthouse opened. In 1872 the

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel with three or more mast (sailing), masts of which the fore mast, mainmast, and any additional masts are Square rig, rigged square, and only the aftmost mast (mizzen in three-maste ...

''City of Newcastle'' was lost because the Captain mistook the Mana Island light for the entrance to Wellington Harbour. In 1874 a report titled ''New Zealand Coast Lights'' by Captain Johnson was tabled in Parliament and, among others, recommended removing the Mana Island light in favour of a light on the Brothers. Construction of the lighthouse was difficult because of its isolation and lack of fresh water. Building materials for construction were unable to be delivered to the island for 2 months because of the weather and sea conditions. Workers had to construct huts as tents could not be pitched on the rock. The oil powered light began operation on 24 September 1877. This was replaced in August 1954 to electricity supplied by a 10 hp diesel engine coupled to three 6.8kw generators. A further upgrade occurred in August 1990 when the light was switched to a 50 watt tungsten halogen solar powered beacon and fully automated. The light was kept by a lighthouse keeper until August 1990. Since then the light has been remotely monitored from

Wellington Wellington 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 third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

. The lights isolation was very hard on the keepers and supplying the island challenging. Supplies were bought in from Picton and the lighthouse keepers provided weather reports on local conditions at 4.30 am daily, then every hour on the hour till 4 pm.

Endangered species

In 1970 The Brothers were declared a sanctuary. North Brother Island is a sanctuary for a rare reptile subspecies, the Brothers Island tuatara (''Sphenodon punctatus guntheri''), and is the type locality for a rare beetle species, the

Cook Strait click beetle ''Amychus granulatus'', commonly known as the Cook Strait click beetle, is a large flightless click beetle in the family Elateridae. Description Adult '' A. granulatus'' can be distinguished from other ''Amychus'' species by its wide and sp ...

(''Amychus granulatus''), although the latter is possibly extinct there now. Others include the diving petrel and the extremely rare dandelion looking plant Kirkianella novae-zealandiae. This plant is only found on North Brother Island and Arapaoa Island. Department of Conservation staff visit the island about four times a year to remove invasive species to protect these and other endangered species.North Brother Island little more than a rock, but an important rock
Wendy Sullivan, Stuff.co.nz, 04:00 11 May 2017, retrieved 19 May 2023

Other

The Brothers lighthouse featured on one of the 1947 New Zealand Government Life Insurance Department lighthouse series postage stamps.

Climate

References

External links

Brothers Island Lighthouse
at Maritime New Zealand {{DEFAULTSORT:Brothers

Brothers A brother (: brothers or brethren) is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingl ...

Cook Strait Lighthouses in New Zealand Islands of the Marlborough Sounds