Sinclair Head / Te Rimurapa is a major promontory on the south coast of New Zealand's
North Island
The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...
. It lies to the west of the entrance to
Wellington Harbour
Wellington Harbour ( ), officially called Wellington Harbour / Port Nicholson, is a large natural harbour on the southern tip of New Zealand's North Island. The harbour entrance is from Cook Strait. Central Wellington is located on parts of ...
, and a similar distance to the east of
Cape Terawhiti.
The headland is named for Sir
George Sinclair, a director of the
New Zealand Company
The New Zealand Company, chartered in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom, was a company that existed in the first half of the 19th century on a business model that was focused on the systematic colonisation of New Ze ...
. 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 literally means "the search for seaweed".
Sinclair Head is home to a non-breeding colony of
New Zealand fur seals, with resident seal numbers ranging from over 300 in winter to about 50 in summer when only the non-breeding males stay behind. The seal
haul-out is also known as the
Red Rocks seal colony, named after an area of red coloured rocks immediately east of the headland.
References
Headlands of the Wellington Region
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