Great Barrier Island

Great Barrier Island () lies in the outer Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand, north-east of central Auckland. With an area of it is the sixth-largest island of New Zealand. Its highest point, Mount Hobson, is above sea level. The local authority is the Auckland Council.

The island was initially exploited for its minerals and kauri trees and saw only limited agriculture. In 2013, it was inhabited by 939 people, mostly living from farming and tourism and all living off-the-grid. The majority of the island (around 60% of the total area) is administered as a nature reserve by the Department of Conservation.

Etymology

The Māori name of the island is Aotea. It received its English name from Captain Cook because it acts as a barrier between the Pacific Ocean and the Hauraki Gulf.

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!Name

!Coordinates

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|Aiguilles Island

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|Bird Islet

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|Bird Rocks

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|Grey Group Islands

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|Junction Islands

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|Kaikōura Island / Selwyn Island

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|Moturako Island

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|Motuhaku Island

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|Nelson Island / Peter Island

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|Palmers Island

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|Pitokuku Island

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|Little Mahuki Island

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|Lion Rock

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|Mahuki Island / Anvil Island

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|Motutaiko Island

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|Okokewa Island / Green Island

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|Opakau Island

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|Oyster Island

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|Papakuri Island

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|Rabbit Island

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|Rakitu Island (Arid Island)

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|Rangiahua Island (Flat Island)

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|The Pigeons / Piroque Rocks

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|Wood Island

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|Whangara Island (Cliff Island)

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|Quoin Island / Graves Island

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Climate

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 dome volcano, which was active between 12 and 8 million years ago.

Great Barrier Island has been linked to the North Island for most of the last 18 million years, by a land bridge to the south along the Colville Channel. Approximately 17,000 years ago during the Last Glacial Maximum, 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 bordered by the two major river systems that flowed on the plain. 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) on Waiheke Island (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 on the Whangaparapara Road are a remainder of this time. The sound of the battery working was reputedly audible from the Coromandel Peninsula, 20 km away. 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. 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. Another major wreck lies in the far southeast, the SS Wiltshire. feral goats, thus being a relative haven for native bird and plant populations. Rare birds found on the island include brown teal ducks, black petrels and kākā.

Marae

Great Barrier Island has two marae affiliated with the local iwi of Ngāti Rehua 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. 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

thumb|[[Port Fitzroy from the top of Kaikoura Island (previously Selwyn Island), 1967]]

Barrier Islands statistical area, which includes Little Barrier Island and Mokohinau Islands although they have no permanent inhabitants, covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km².