Great Barrier Island (often colloquially just
The Barrier) is a large
islandAn island or isle is any piece of land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls are called islets. A key or cay is another name for a small island or islet. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot, .There are two main types of islands:...
of
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
, situated to the north-east of central
AucklandThe Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with a population approaching 1.4 million residents, percent of the country's population. Demographic trends indicate that it will continue to grow faster than the rest...
in the outer
Hauraki GulfThe Hauraki Gulf is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has a total area of 4000 km², and lies between the Auckland Region, the Coromandel Peninsula, and the Hauraki Plains. Hauraki is Māori for North Wind.-Gulf:...
. With an area of it is the fourth-largest
island of New Zealand's main chain of islands, with its highest point,
Mount HobsonMount Hobson is the highest mountain on Great Barrier Island, New Zealand. It rises 621 m from the sea at the centre of the island. Various mountain tracks allow relatively easy access to the summit, with the shortest track leading through the famous Windy Canyon...
, rising .
The remote island was initially exploited for its minerals and kauri trees and saw only some limited agriculture. It is now inhabited by a small population of 852 people, mostly living from farming and tourism. The majority of the diverse environments of the island (around 60% of the total area) is administered as nature reserve by the
New Zealand Department of ConservationThe Department of Conservation , commonly known by its acronym, "DOC", is the state sector organisation of New Zealand which deals with the conservation of New Zealand’s natural and historic heritage. The Minister of Conservation in New Zealand's Government is the Hon...
, with the local authority being the
Auckland City CouncilAuckland City Council is the local government authority representing Auckland City, New Zealand. It is an elected body representing the 404,658 residents of the city...
.
The island received its European name from
Captain CookCaptain James Cook, FRS RN , was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer, ultimately rising to the rank of Captain in the Royal Navy...
because it acts as a barrier between the Pacific Ocean and Gulf. For centuries, the indigenous
MāoriThe Māori are the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand . The group probably arrived in southwestern Polynesia in several waves at some time before 1300...
have called it
Motu Aotea, meaning (island [of the] white cloud) in the
Māori languageMāori or te reo Māori commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Maori people, where it has is the status of an official language...
.
Geography
With an area of , Great Barrier is the fourth-largest island in New Zealand (not counting the
North IslandThe North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...
and the
South IslandThe South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...
), following
Stewart Island/RakiuraStewart Island/Rakiura is the third-largest island of New Zealand. It lies south of the South Island, across Foveaux Strait. Its permanent population is slightly over 400 people, most of whom live in the settlement of Oban.-History and naming:...
, Chatham Island, and
Auckland IslandAuckland Island is the main island of the Auckland Islands, an uninhabited archipelago in the south Pacific Ocean belonging to New Zealand. It is inscribed in the together with the other subantarctic New Zealand islands in the region as follows: 877-004 Auckland Isls, New Zealand S50.29 E165.52...
. The highest point,
Mount HobsonMount Hobson is the highest mountain on Great Barrier Island, New Zealand. It rises 621 m from the sea at the centre of the island. Various mountain tracks allow relatively easy access to the summit, with the shortest track leading through the famous Windy Canyon...
or
Hirakimata, is above sea level.
The island's European name stems from its location on the outskirts of the Hauraki Gulf. With a maximum length (north-south) of some , it (and the
Coromandel PeninsulaThe Coromandel Peninsula lies in the North Island of New Zealand. It is part of the Waikato region and extends 85 kilometres north from the western end of the Bay of Plenty, forming a natural barrier to protect the Hauraki Gulf and the Firth of Thames in the west from the Pacific Ocean to the...
directly to its south) protect the gulf from the storms of the
Pacific OceanThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Tepre Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It extends from the Arctic in the north to Antarctica in the south, bounded by Asia and...
to the east. Consequently, the island boasts highly contrasting coastal environments. The eastern coast comprises long, clear beaches, windswept sand-dunes, and heavy surf. The western coast, sheltered and calm, is home to hundreds of tiny, secluded bays which offer some of the best diving and boating in the country. The inland holds several large and biologically diverse
wetlandA wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with moisture either permanently or seasonally. Such areas may also be covered partially or completely by shallow pools of water. Wetlands include swamps, marshes, and bogs, among others. The water found in wetlands can be saltwater, freshwater,...
s as well as rugged and hillcountry (bush or heath in the more exposed heights) as well as various second- and old-growth kauri forests.
Entrance to the
Hauraki GulfThe Hauraki Gulf is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has a total area of 4000 km², and lies between the Auckland Region, the Coromandel Peninsula, and the Hauraki Plains. Hauraki is Māori for North Wind.-Gulf:...
is via two channels, one on either side of the island.
Colville ChannelThe Colville Channel is one of three channels connecting the Hauraki Gulf with the Pacific Ocean to the northeast of Auckland, New Zealand. It is the easternmost channel, lying between the southern end of Great Barrier Island and Cape Colville at the northern tip of the Coromandel Peninsula...
separates the island's southernmost point (Cape Barrier) from
Cape ColvilleCape Colville is the northernmost point of the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand's North Island. It lies 85 kilometres north of Thames, and 70 kilometres northeast of the city of Auckland, on the other side of the Hauraki Gulf....
at the northern tip of the Coromandel Peninsula to the south, and
Cradock ChannelThe Cradock Channel is one of three channels connecting the Hauraki Gulf with the Pacific Ocean to the northeast of Auckland, New Zealand. It is the central channel, lying between Great Barrier Island to the east and Little Barrier Island to the west....
separates the island from the smaller Little Barrier Island to the west.
History
Local industries
Mining
Early European interest in the island followed discovery of copper in the remote north of the island, where New Zealand's earliest mines were established at Miners Head in 1842, and has left some impressive quarried spaces accessible by boat. Later on, gold and silver were found in the Okupu / Whangaparapara area in the 1890s, with the remains of a stamping battery on the Whangaparapara Road forming one of the remainders of this time.
Kauri logging
The
kauriAgathis australis, commonly known as the kauri, is a coniferous tree found north of 38°S in the northern districts of New Zealand's North Island. It is the largest but not tallest species of tree in New Zealand, standing up to 50m tall in the emergent layer above the forest's main canopy. The tree...
logging industry was profitable in the island's early European days and up to the mid 20th Century. Forests however were well inland even though there was no easy way to get the logs to the sea or to sawmills. The logs were therefore dragged to a convenient stream bed with steep sides and a dam was constructed of wood with a 'trapdoor' near the bottom large enough for the logs to pass through. When the dam had filled (which might take up to a year) the trapdoor was opened and the logs floating above the dam were sucked down through the hole and swept down to the sea, 16 miles away in the case of the illustrated dam. The logging industry cut down large swathes 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 ServiceThe New Zealand Forest Service was originally established in 1919 as he State Forest Service. The State Forest Service changed its name to the New Zealand Forest Service in 1949 at about the same time that the Forests Act of 1949 passed through Parliament....
in the 1970s and 1980s) as well as some remaining kauri in the far north of the island. Today much of the island is covered with regenerating bush dominated by
kanukaKunzea ericoides is a tree or shrub which is restricted to Australia and New Zealand. Until 1983, Kānuka was classified as being in the genus Leptospermum.-Distribution and ecology:...
and kauri.
Other industries
The island was also the site of New Zealands last
whalingWhaling is the hunting of whales which dates back to at least 3,000 BC. The evolution of traditional Arctic whaling developed with increasing rapidity by early organized fleets in the 17th century; competitive national whaling industries in the 18th and 19th centuries; and the introduction of...
station, at Whangaparapara, which was opened only in 1956 (over a century after the whaling industry peaked in New Zealand), and was to be closed again (due to depletion of whaling stocks and increasing protection of whale species) by 1962. Some remains can still be visited in the bay.
Another small-scale industry on the island was
gum-diggingKauri forests once covered most of the upper North Island of New Zealand; the change of climate, geological activity and the impact of Maori and European settlers had led to much deforestation, with some areas reverting to sand dunes, scrub or swamp, but these ancient kauri fields continued to...
, while dairy farming and sheep farming have tended to play a small role compared to the usual New Zealand practice. In modern days, Great Barrier Islanders are generally occupied in tourism, farming or service-related industries, when not working off-island in other jobs.
Shipwrecks
The remote north of the island was the site of the sinking of the
SS WairarapaThe SS Wairarapa was a New Zealand ship of the late 19th century plying the route between the Auckland, New Zealand and Australia. It came to tragic fame when it hit a reef at the northern edge of Great Barrier Island, about 100 km out from Auckland, and sunk...
around midnight of 29 October 1894. This tragedy was one of New Zealand's worst shipwrecks, with about 140 lives lost, some of them buried in two beach grave sites in the far north of the island. As a result a Great Barrier Island
pigeon postPigeon post is the use of homing pigeons to carry messages. Pigeons were effective as messengers due to their natural homing abilities. The pigeons were transported to a destination in cages, where they would be attached with messages, then naturally the pigeon would fly back to its home where the...
service was set up, the first message being flown on 14 May 1897. Special postage stamps were issued from October 1898 until 1908, when a new communications cable was laid to the mainland, which made the pigeon post redundant. Another major wreck lies on the opposite end of the island in the far southeast, the
SS Wiltshire.
Nature reserves
Over time, more and more parts of the island came under the stewardship of the New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC) or its predecessors. Partly this was land that had always belonged to the Crown, while other parts were sold or donated like the more than 10% of the island (located in the northern bush area, with some of the largest remaining kauri forests) that was gifted to the Crown by farmer Max Burrill in 1984. The DOC has created a large number of walking tracks through the island, some which are also open for mountain biking.
Great Barrier is free of some of the more troublesome introduced pests that plague the native ecosystems of other parts of New Zealand. While wild cats and dogs are present, the island has no known populations of
possumA possum is any of about 69 small to medium-sized arboreal marsupial species native to Australia, New Guinea, and Sulawesi . The name derives from their resemblance to the opossums of the Americas...
s, weasels, stoats or deer, thus being a relative haven for native bird and plant populations. Rare animals found on the island include
Brown TealThe Brown Teal or New Zealand Teal, is a species of dabbling duck of the genus Anas. The Māori name for it is Pāteke. It was considered to be conspecific with the flightless Auckland Island and Campbell Island Teals in Anas aucklandica; the name "Brown Teal" was applied to that entire taxon...
ducks,
Black PetrelThe Parkinson's Petrel or Black Petrel, Procellaria parkinsoni, is a large, black petrel, the smallest of the Procellaria. The species is an endemic breeder of New Zealand, breeding only on islands off the North Island, on Great Barrier Island and Little Barrier Island. At sea it disperses as far...
seabirds and
North Island KākāThe New Zealand Kaka, also known as Kākā is a parrot endemic to the forests of New Zealand.-Taxonomy and naming:The New Zealand Kaka was described by German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1788. There are two subspecies, the North Island Kākā, Nestor meridionalis septentrionalis, and the...
parrots.
Population
Settlements
Great Barrier Island in 2006 had a permanent population of around 850, primarily in coastal settlements such as Tryphena, the largest settlement in Tryphena Harbour at the southern end of the island. Other communities are Okupu, Whangaparapara, Port Fitzroy, Claris and Kaitoke. There is no central power on the island, and houses require their own generators. There is also extensive use of solar water heating, solar panels for electricity and wind-powered generators on the island.
The population of the island has decreased significantly in recent years, although house values have increased. The most significant increase in values has been at Kaitoke, where the white sandy beaches (Kaitoke and Medlands), nearby hot springs, and the central location on the island, with the adjacent airfield, have allowed for a burgeoning vacation centre. The population of the island swells substantially during the main holiday seasons, though it is still not a major tourist destination due to its relative remoteness.
The rural and remote character is also reflected in the fact that it is the Auckland Region's 'suburb' with the lowest median income, at NZ$25,100, compared to an average of NZ$37,300 and the highest value of NZ$60,000.
From the end of February 2007, the island was seen around the world as the setting for the BBC One reality show,
CastawayCastaway 2007 was a follow-up to the BBC series Castaway 2000 in which a group of people from the British public are "castaway" on a remote island. While in the 2000 series 36 men, women and children moved to a remote Scottish island for a year, this series featured 15 men and women from the...
, which was filmed there for three months.
Transport
There are airfields at Claris (
Great Barrier AerodromeGreat Barrier Aerodrome is a small, uncontrolled aerodrome located 1 Nautical mile northeast of Claris on Great Barrier Island in the Hauraki Gulf on the North Island of New Zealand.- Operational Information :*Bitumen runway Strength: ESWL 2100...
) and Okiwi. Great Barrier Airlines and Fly My Sky (formerly Mountain Air) operate services from Auckland Airport, and
North Shore AerodromeNorth Shore Aerodrome sometimes also called Dairy Flat airfield, is a small, uncontrolled aerodrome located 2 Nautical miles South SouWest of Silverdale on the North Island of New Zealand...
. Flight time is approximately 30 minutes.
There are two ferry services to Great Barrier Island. Fullers operate a fast ferry service over the summer and at long weekends. The Fullers ferry takes around two hours to Tryphena. SeaLink operates the
Island Navigator, a passenger, car and freight ferry, operating from Wynyard Wharf in Auckland city to Tryphena (several times weekly) and Port Fitzroy (less frequently). Sailing time is approximately 4 ½ hours
Civic institutions
There are three primary schools on the island, but no
secondary schoolSecondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of compulsory schooling, known as secondary education, takes place. It follows on from elementary or primary education....
s, so students either leave the island for schooling on the mainland, or do their studies via the
New Zealand Correspondence SchoolThe Correspondence School is New Zealand's largest school, with students from early childhood to secondary level. In addition to its ordinary full-time students, it provides programmes to students at other state-owned schools where a subject is unavailable, and to adults...
.
Although technically part of Auckland City, a certain relaxation in some of the rules governing daily activities and applicable standards for civic works and services exists, shared with some of the other inhabited islands of the Hauraki Gulf.
For example, every
transportTransport or transportation is the movement of people and goods from one location to another. Transport is performed by modes, such as air, rail, road, water, cable, pipeline and space...
service operated solely on Great Barrier Island, the
Chatham IslandsThe archipelago of the Chatham Islands is a territory of New Zealand of about ten islands, the largest of which are Chatham Island and Pitt Island, within a radius...
, or
Stewart Island/RakiuraStewart Island/Rakiura is the third-largest island of New Zealand. It lies south of the South Island, across Foveaux Strait. Its permanent population is slightly over 400 people, most of whom live in the settlement of Oban.-History and naming:...
is exempt from section 70C of the Transport Act 1962 (the requirements for drivers to maintain driving-hours logbooks). Drivers subject to section 70B must nevertheless keep records of their driving hours in some form.
External links