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The 'Auckland Islands' (''Motu Maha'') () form an archipelago of the New Zealand Sub-Antarctic Islands and include the following: Auckland Island, Adams Island, Enderby Island, Disappointment Island, Ewing Island, Dundas Island and Green Island. They lie 465 km from the South Island port of Bluff, between the latitudes 50° 30' and 50° 55' S and longitudes 165° 50' and 166° 20' E. The islands are uninhabited.

Contents

Geography

History

Ecology

See also

References

External links

Geography

The main island (Auckland Island) has an approximate land area of 510 km², and is 42 km long. It is notable for its steep cliffs and rugged terrain, which rises to over 600 m. Prominent peaks include Cavern Peak (650 m), Mount Raynal (635 m), Mount D'Urville (630 m), Mount Easton (610 m), and the Tower of Babel (550 m).
The southern end of the island broadens to a width of 26 km. Here, a narrow channel known as Carnley Harbour (on some maps the Adams Straits) separates the main island from the roughly triangular Adams Island (area approximately 100 km²), which is even more mountainous, reaching a height of 660 m with Mount Dick. The channel is the remains of the crater of an extinct volcano, and Adams Island and the southern part of the main island form the crater rim.
There are numerous other smaller islands in the group, notably Disappointment Island (10 km northwest of the main island) and Enderby Island (1 km off the northern tip of the main island), each covering less than 5 km².

Many inlets are sharply incised into the main island, notably Port Ross in the northern end of the island.

History

There is evidence that the Auckland Islands were first discovered by Polynesian voyagers. Traces of Polynesian settlement, possibly dating to the 13th century, have been found by archaeologists on Enderby Island. [1] This is the most southerly settlement by Polynesians ever discovered. [2]
Abraham Bristow, a whaling captain, rediscovered the islands - which were no longer inhabited - in 1806 and named them "Lord Auckland's" on 18 August 1806 in honour of his father's friend William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland. Britain claimed the archipelago the following year. The explorers Dumont D'Urville in 1839, and James Clark Ross visited in 1839 and in 1840 respectively.
Now uninhabited, the islands saw unsuccessful settlements in the mid-19th century. Whalers and sealers set up temporary bases, and in 1842 a small party of Māori and Moriori from the Chatham Islands migrated to the archipelago, surviving for some 20 years on sealing and flax growing. Charles Enderby proposed to set up a community based on agriculture and whaling in 1846. This settlement, established at Port Ross in 1850 and named ''Hardwicke'', lasted only two and a half years.
The Imperial Parliament included the Auckland Islands in the extended boundaries of New Zealand in 1863.
The rocky coasts of the islands have proved disastrous for several ships. The ''Grafton'' suffered shipwreck off the coast of the islands in 1864, and in 1866, one of New Zealand's most famous shipwrecks, that of the ''General Grant'' occurred on the western coast. Several attempts have failed to salvage cargo from the ''General Grant'', which allegedly carried bullion. A further maritime tragedy occurred in 1907, with the loss of the ''Dundonald'' and twelve crew off Disappointment Island. Because of the probability of wrecks around the islands, the authorities maintained emergency supplies in a depot at Port Ross.
During 1942 to 1945 the Auckland Islands hosted a New Zealand meteorological station, as part of a coastwatch program staffed by scientist volunteers and known for security reasons as "The Cape Expedition". One of the staff was R.A. Falla, later to become an eminent New Zealand scientist. Currently the islands are uninhabited, although there are regular visits by scientists and limited tourism is allowed on Enderby Island and Auckland Island.BirdLife International (2003) "Auckland Islands" ''BirdLife's online World Bird Database: the site for bird conservation. Version 2.0.'' Cambridge, UK: BirdLife International. Available: http://www.birdlife.org (accessed 13/7/2007)

Ecology

The vegetation of the Auckland Islands is divided into distinct altitudinal zones. Past the salt spray zone the fringes of the islands are dominated by forests of southern rata ''Metrosideros umbellata'', and in places the subantarctic tree daisy (''Olearia lyallii''), which was probably introduced by sealers.^[1] Above this exists a subalpine shrub zone dominated by ''Dracopyllum'', ''Coprosma'' and ''Myrsine'' (with some rata). At higher elevations the plant communities are dominated by tussockgrass and megaherb communities.
Numerous seabirds nest on the islands, among them several species of albatross and penguin. The rare Yellow-eyed Penguin breeds here, as does the endemic Auckland Shag. They are home to several landbirds as well including the of the New Zealand Snipe, the Red-crowned and Yellow-crowned Parakeet, the Tui, the New Zealand Bellbird, the New Zealand Pipit, a subspecies of the Tomtit, the Double-banded Plover, the New Zealand Falcon and the endemic Auckland Rail (''Lewinia muelleri'') and Auckland Islands Teal.
The Auckland Islands hold the largest communities of subantarctic invertebrates, with 24 species of spider, 11 species of springtail and over 200 insects.^[2] Of these there are 57 species of beetle, 110 flies and 39 moths. The islands also boasts an endemic genus and species of weta, ''Dendroplectron cryptacanthus''. The freshwater communities of the islands are home to a freshwater fish, the Koaro or ''Galaxias brevipinnis'', the juvenile stage of which lives in saltwater but which returns to the rivers as an adult. 19 species of freshwater invertebrates are endemic to the Auckland Islands, including one mollusc, one crustacean, a mayfly, 12 flies and two caddis flies.

The islands are home to a number of introduced species; cattle, sheep, goats, dogs Common Brushtail Possums and rabbits were eliminated in the 1990s or went extinct naturally but feral cats, and pigs remain. Rabbits were removed from Enderby Island in 1993 by the application of poison, during the project mice were also eradicated.^[3] Curiously rats have never managed to colonise the islands, in spite of numerous visits and shipwrecks and their ubiquity on other islands.^[4] These introduced species impact on the native vegetation and bird life, and caused the extinction of the Auckland Islands Merganser (a species formerly widespread in southern New Zealand, the last stronghold of which was the Auckland Islands).
The only native mammals are two species of sea lion which haul out on the islands, the New Zealand Fur Seal and the threatened New Zealand Sea Lion.

See also

★ New Zealand Sub-Antarctic Islands

References

1. Campbell, D & Rudge, M (1976) "The case for controlling the distribution of the tree daisy ''Olearia lyallii'' Hook. F. in its type locality, Auckland Islands" ''Proceedings of the New Zealand Ecological Society'' '23' 109-115 [3]
2. Department of Conservation (1999) ''New Zealand's Subantarctic Islands''. Reed Books:Auckland ISBN 0-7900-0719-3
3. Torr, N (2002) Eradication of rabbits and mice from subantarctic Enderby and Rose Islands" ''Turning the tide: the eradication of invasive species'' (Proceedings of the international conference on eradication of island invasives; Occasional Paper of the IUCN Species Survival Commission No. '27'. Veitch, C. R. and Clout, M.N., eds [4]
4. C. Chimera, M. C. Coleman and J. P. Parkes (1995) "Diet of feral goats and feral pigs on Auckland Island, New Zealand" '' New Zealand Journal of Ecology'' '19'(2): 203–207


★ ''Wise's New Zealand Guide'' (4th ed.) (1969). Dunedin: H. Wise & Co. (N.Z.) Ltd.

★ ''Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives of New Zealand'' (1863, Session III Oct-Dec) (A5)

External links

★ Auckland Islands Marine Reserve (New Zealand Department of Conservation)

★ High Resolution Map

★ A Map of the Islands

★ Island Information