Kawau Island
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Kawau Island is in the Hauraki Gulf, close to the north-eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the Māori word for the shag.<ref name="PART2-P12">Template:Cite news</ref>At its closest point it lies Template:Convert off the coast of the Northland Peninsula, just south of Tāwharanui Peninsula, and about Template:Convert by sea journey from Sandspit Wharf, and shelters Kawau Bay to the north-east of Warkworth. It is Template:Convert north of Auckland.
Almost every property on the island relies on direct access to the sea. There are only two short roads serving settlements at Schoolhouse Bay and South Cove, and most residents have private wharves for access to their front door steps. A regular ferry service operates to the island from Sandspit Wharf on the mainland, as do water taxi services.<ref name="Kawau Island"/> Mansion House, in the Kawau Island Historic Reserve, is an important historic tourist attraction.
Geography
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The island is Template:Convert at its longest axes, and is almost bisected by the long inlet of Bon Accord Harbour, which is geologically a "drowned valley".<ref name="Kawau Island">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> For more than a century, the sheltered location of the bay has made it a favourite stopping place for yachts.<ref name="PART2-P12"/>
The island is comprised primarily of greywacke rocks and small lava flows, which formed on the sea floor before the island was uplifted by tectonic forces. Many of the lava flows were associated with hydrothermal springs, which precipitated metal sulphides and minerals rich in iron, manganese and copper.<ref name="FieldGuide2008">Template:Cite book</ref>
Approximately 17,000 years ago, during the Last Glacial Maximum, when sea levels were over 100 metres lower than at present, Kawau Island was connected to the North Island, and surrounded by a vast coastal plain where the Hauraki Gulf exists today. Sea levels began to rise 7,000 years ago, after which Kawau became an island, separated from the rest of New Zealand.<ref name="Niwa">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
History
Kawau, though providing little arable land, was well-favoured by Māori for its beautiful surrounding waters, with battles over the island common from the 17th century on.<ref name="PART2-P12"/> Traditional stories involve the ancestor Toi-te-huatahi naming the island Te Kawau Tu Maro, meaning the shag (cormorant) standing watch.<ref name="FieldGuide2008"/> Kawau was occupied for generations by Tāmaki Māori tribes including Te Kawerau and Ngāi Tai. A defensive pā, Momona, is found on the island, located in the south-west along the ridge close to modern-day Mansion House.<ref name="FieldGuide2008"/>
Entrepreneurs from New South Wales purchased the island in 1840 and, shortly afterwards, James Forbes Beattie formed the Kawau Company, intending to mine copper on the island.<ref name="EvolvingAuckland12.5">Template:Cite book</ref> Miners from Falmouth, Cornwall were brought over for the operation. After it was discovered that unsmelted ore was a fire hazard for ships, smelters from Wales were employed to run an ore-smelting operation on the island.<ref name="EvolvingAuckland12.5"/>
A rival company, funded by Frederick Whitaker and Theophilus Heale, was granted land immediately outside of the Kawau Company's land grant, giving them control of the wharf. The rival company created shafts underneath the Kawau Company's land, which led to a confrontation when miners from the Kawau Company broke into the rival company's heading.<ref name="EvolvingAuckland12.5"/> In 1846, the rival company's grant was rejected, and the Kawau Company took full possession of the mines in 1848.<ref name="EvolvingAuckland12.5"/> In 1844/45, the island produced about Template:Convert of copper, which was about a third of Auckland's exports for that year.
In 1862, the island was bought by Sir George Grey, Governor of New Zealand, to be used as a private retreat. Grey extended the original copper mine manager's house, built in 1845, to create the Mansion House, which still stands, and made the surrounding land into a botanical and zoological park, importing many plants and animals.<ref name="PART2-P12"/> The house changed hands several times after Grey, and fell into disrepair, but has been restored and furnished to its state during Grey's time. It is now in public ownership in the Kawau Island Historic Reserve, administered by the New Zealand Department of Conservation.<ref name="PART2-P12"/>
Governor Grey introduced possums to Kawau in 1868–69. The serious threat they posed to New Zealand's indigenous forest was first identified on Kawau by Ray Weaver in 1955. Since then, possums have become a major animal pest in New Zealand, compromising both forest health and the country's primary industries. The first liberation in New Zealand proper is believed to have been by Captain Howell at Riverton in the South Island in 1837.Template:Cn
The reserve is public land and covers 10% of the Island, and includes the old copper mine, believed to be the site of New Zealand's first underground metalliferous mining venture.<ref name="Kawau Island"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The ruins of the mine's pumphouse are registered as a Category I heritage structure.<ref name="NZHPT 9">Template:NZHPT</ref>
In 1968, the island was annexed by Rodney County.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The island is home to kiwis and two-thirds of the entire population of North Island weka. Among the animals that Grey introduced were five species of wallabies, as well as kookaburras.<ref name="FieldGuide2008"/> Three of the six introduced wallaby species remain and do considerable damage to the native vegetation,<ref name="PART2-P12"/> thus harming the habitat for the flightless birds and other native fauna. The wallabies destroy emerging seedlings which means that the present native trees are the last generation. The usual under-storey forest species are absent due to wallaby browsing and, in many cases, the ground is bare. Possums, also introduced from Australia by Grey, destroy mature native trees. The result has been a considerable loss of biodiversity, with bird numbers plummeting due to shortages of both food supply and suitable habitat. Even the surrounding marine environment has been severely compromised by silt carried from the bare ground by rainwater.Template:Cn
However, Grey's introduction of wallabies eventually had a minor indirect benefit in the early 2000s, when some were taken to Australia's Innes National Park to boost genetic diversity.<ref name="PART2-P12"/>
Pohutukawa Trust New Zealand
Pohutukawa Trust New Zealand was founded in 1992 by Ray Weaver and other private landowners, who own 90% of the island, "to rehabilitate the native flora and fauna of Kawau Island".<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Until then, it was considered hopeless to reverse the considerable ecological damage caused by the introduced animal and plant species, and Kawau was said to be of historical rather than botanical importance.
The Trust is a registered charity and has run continuously since its beginnings in 1992. It was chaired by Ray Weaver until his death in 2015, and is now chaired by his brother Carl. The Trust's plan is to eradicate all introduced animal pests in stages, starting with wallabies, possums and stoats. Pest removal and the eradication of certain weed species, and the control others, will enable sustainable land use in a restored ecological setting of native flora and fauna. The ongoing program is funded by donations and sponsors.
Since 1985, both wallaby and possum numbers have been steadily reduced by sustained control, saving the coastal pōhutukawa tree, a New Zealand icon. From a period when possums were at plague proportions across the island, they are now effectively absent form private landowners' properties. In the first quarter of 2024, trained detection dogs were used to establish the current status of introduced stoats on the island. No trace of the animals was found. The Trust is not yet able to claim that the inability of the detection teams to find any stoats means that it has eradicated them, although it is possible. Stoats are one of the major predators on young kiwis, so the Trust's removal of them has been a significant contributing factor in an explosion of kiwi numbers since the early 2000s.Template:Cn There has been an increase in the detection of all native bird numbers such as brown teal, kaka, kererū, and bellbirds.Template:Cn
The Pohutukawa Trust assisted with the capturing all the brush-tailed rock-wallabies that could be economically removed from private land, for relocation to a captive breeding program established by Waterfall Springs Conservation Association in Wahroonga, Australia. After that, it began to humanely eradicate the remaining wallabies, to allow ecological restoration, mainly by natural regeneration.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> As of 2019, four wallaby species, the brush-tailed rock-wallaby, tammar wallaby, parma wallaby and swamp wallaby, all continue to threaten the native species on the island.<ref name="Aley2019">Template:Cite Q</ref>
An inventory of remaining indigenous plants and forest fragments on the island was compiled in 1996 and is being progressively enhanced to define the remnant resource still available for restoration. Several rare indigenous plant species have been discovered during the process.Template:Cn
Following the removal of wallabies, possums and other animal pests, the Trust intends to eradicate feral cats and ship rats in stages as resources allow. Exotic plants unpalatable to the wallabies have become serious invasive weeds on the island, and the Trust plans to eradicate or control them as part of the ecological restoration process.Template:Cn
The Pohutukawa Trust New Zealand received a Green Ribbon Award from the Ministry for the Environment in 2003 "for outstanding leadership and commitment to environmental protection".Template:Cn
Department of Conservation controlled land
About 10% of the island is under the control of the Department of Conservation, which tries to keep the protected areas free of invasive pests and animals.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> As at 2002, Kawau Island was home to the largest island population of North Island weka.<ref name="Shaw2002">Template:Cite Q</ref>
Demographics
Statistics New Zealand describes Kawau Island as a rural settlement which covers Template:Convert<ref name="Area">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and includes Motuora, Moturekareka Island, Motuketekete Island, Takangaroa Island and Rabbit Island, all of which are uninhabited. It had an estimated population of Template:NZ population data 2018 as of Template:NZ population data 2018 with a population density of Template:Decimals people per km2. The area is part of the larger Gulf Islands statistical area.
Template:Historical populations Kawau Island had a population of 96 in the 2023 New Zealand census, an increase of 15 people (18.5%) since the 2018 census, and an increase of 18 people (23.1%) since the 2013 census. There were 54 males and 45 females in 60 dwellings.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 3.1% of people identified as LGBTIQ+. The median age was 62.6 years (compared with 38.1 years nationally). There were 6 people (6.2%) aged under 15 years, 6 (6.2%) aged 15 to 29, 39 (40.6%) aged 30 to 64, and 45 (46.9%) aged 65 or older.<ref name="Census 2023"/>
People could identify as more than one ethnicity. The results were 87.5% European (Pākehā); 12.5% Māori; and 3.1% Middle Eastern, Latin American and African New Zealanders (MELAA). English was spoken by 100.0%, Māori language by 3.1%, and other languages by 9.4%. The percentage of people born overseas was 21.9, compared with 28.8% nationally.
Religious affiliations were 28.1% Christian, and 3.1% New Age. People who answered that they had no religion were 62.5%, and 3.1% of people did not answer the census question.
Of those at least 15 years old, 12 (13.3%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, 54 (60.0%) had a post-high school certificate or diploma, and 18 (20.0%) people exclusively held high school qualifications. The median income was $25,100, compared with $41,500 nationally. 9 people (10.0%) earned over $100,000 compared to 12.1% nationally. The employment status of those aged at least 15 was that 27 (30.0%) people were employed full-time and 15 (16.7%) were part-time.<ref name="Census 2023">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Gulf Islands
The statistical area of Gulf Islands also includes Rangitoto Island, Motutapu Island, Browns Island, Motuihe Island and Rakino Island, but Kawau Island has the majority of the population. Gulf Islands covers Template:Convert<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and had an estimated population of Template:NZ population data 2023 SA2 as of Template:NZ population data 2023 SA2 with a population density of Template:Decimals people per km2.
Template:Historical populations Gulf Islands had a population of 138 in the 2023 New Zealand census, an increase of 27 people (24.3%) since the 2018 census, and an increase of 18 people (15.0%) since the 2013 census. There were 72 males and 66 females in 99 dwellings.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 4.3% of people identified as LGBTIQ+. The median age was 62.6 years (compared with 38.1 years nationally). There were 6 people (4.3%) aged under 15 years, 12 (8.7%) aged 15 to 29, 60 (43.5%) aged 30 to 64, and 60 (43.5%) aged 65 or older.<ref name="Census 2023 GI"/>
People could identify as more than one ethnicity. The results were 89.1% European (Pākehā); 13.0% Māori; 4.3% Pasifika; and 2.2% Middle Eastern, Latin American and African New Zealanders (MELAA). English was spoken by 100.0%, Māori language by 2.2%, and other languages by 10.9%. The percentage of people born overseas was 23.9, compared with 28.8% nationally.
Religious affiliations were 26.1% Christian, and 2.2% New Age. People who answered that they had no religion were 65.2%, and 6.5% of people did not answer the census question.
Of those at least 15 years old, 27 (20.5%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, 69 (52.3%) had a post-high school certificate or diploma, and 30 (22.7%) people exclusively held high school qualifications. The median income was $26,600, compared with $41,500 nationally. 12 people (9.1%) earned over $100,000 compared to 12.1% nationally. The employment status of those aged at least 15 was that 39 (29.5%) people were employed full-time and 27 (20.5%) were part-time.<ref name="Census 2023 GI">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
See also
References
Further reading
- Bolitho, Hector. The Island of Kawau; a record descriptive and historical, Whitcombe & Tombs, 1919.
- Template:Cite journalTemplate:Cbignore
External links
- Kawau Island Residents and Property Owners' Association Incorporated
- Pohutukawa Trust New Zealand
- Photographs of Kawau Island held in Auckland Libraries' heritage collections.
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