Tiritiri Matangi Island is located in the

Hauraki Gulf The Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has an area of 4000 km2,Whangaparāoa Peninsula in the

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 ...

and north east of

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

. The island is an open

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

managed by the Supporters of Tiritiri Matangi Incorporated, under the supervision of the Department of Conservation and is noted for its

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

life, including

takahē The South Island takahē (''Porphyrio hochstetteri'') is a Flightless bird, flightless swamphen indigenous to New Zealand and the largest living member of the Rail (bird), rail family. It is often known by the abbreviated name takahē, whic ...

North Island kōkako The North Island kōkako (''Callaeas wilsoni'') is an endangered forest bird which is endemic (ecology), endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. It is grey in colour, with a small black mask. Adults have distinctive blue wattles. Because ...

and kiwi. It attracts between 30,000 and 32,000 visitors a year, the latter figure being the maximum allowed by the Auckland Conservation Management Strategy. The name,

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 ...

for "tossed by the wind", is often popularly shortened to Tiritiri. Māori mythology considers the island to be a float of an ancestral fishing net.

Geography

The island is located on the

Hibiscus Coast The Hibiscus Coast is a populated area on a stretch of the Hauraki Gulf coast in New Zealand's Auckland Region. It has a population of making it the List of New Zealand urban areas by population, 10th most populous urban area in New Zealand, ...

, to the east of Whangaparāoa Peninsula, and is composed of ancient

greywacke Greywacke or graywacke ( ) is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness (6–7 on Mohs scale), dark color, and Sorting (sediment), poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or sand-size Lith ...

rock.

Climate

History

Human use

The first people to settle on the island were

of the

Kawerau Kawerau is a town in the Bay of Plenty Region on the North Island of New Zealand. It is situated 100 km south-east of Tauranga and 58 km east of Rotorua. It is the seat of the Kawerau District Council, and the only town in Kawerau Distr ...

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori, roughly means or , and is often translated as "tribe". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English. ...

. Later, members of the Ngāti Pāoa moved to the island, like the Kawerau partly for

shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch cartilaginous fish characterized by a ribless endoskeleton, dermal denticles, five to seven gill slits on each side, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the ...

fishing until about 1700, when the Kawerau regained control and remained until forced to retreat to

Waikato The Waikato () is a region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipā District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the nort ...

in 1821 when

Hongi Hika Hongi Hika ( – 6 March 1828) was a New Zealand Māori rangatira (chief) and war leader of the iwi of Ngāpuhi. He was a pivotal figure in the early years of regular European contact and settlement in New Zealand. As one of the first Māor ...

attacked from the north. There were two

pā The word pā (; often spelled pa in English) can refer to any Māori people, Māori village or defensive settlement, but often refers to hillforts – fortified settlements with palisades and defensive :wikt:terrace, terraces – and also to fo ...

, Tiritiri Matangi Pā located to the north of Hobbs Bay, and Papakura Pā, to the north-west of the island. European (

Pākehā ''Pākehā'' (or ''Pakeha''; ; ) is a Māori language, Māori-language word used in English, particularly in New Zealand. It generally means a non-Polynesians, Polynesian New Zealanders, New Zealander or more specifically a European New Zeala ...

) settlers arrived in the early 19th century. In 1841 Ngāti Pāoa sold the land to the crown as part of the Mahurangi Block. When the Kawerau returned, friction ensued as both peoples had a claim to the island. In 1867 the

Māori Land Court The Māori Land Court () is the specialist court of record in New Zealand that hears matters relating to Māori land. Established in 1865 as the Native Land Court, its purpose was to translate customary communal landholdings into individual ti ...

awarded title to the Crown. A lighthouse was constructed near the southern end in 1864, and remains in operation. In 1956, a xenon light source was fitted to the lighthouse, creating the most powerful light-beam achieved at the time by a New Zealand lighthouse. It had an output of 11 million candle-power and a range of 58 nautical miles, making it one of the most powerful lights in the world; most lights shone for 27 nautical miles. The island was farmed from the 1863 to 1971 by the Hobbs family, who also owned land on the peninsula. When the lease expired, management was then vested in the Hauraki Gulf Maritime Park Board.

Regeneration and sanctuary

While originally forested, the island developed into pasture by the mid-20th century. From 1984, the island has been the focus of a wide-scale native forest regeneration project, where over 250,000 native plants have been propagated on the island. The island was chosen as a unique and protected place to provide a public window for rare New Zealand native birds on the edge of a large city and it also lacked introduced predators such as

mustelid The Mustelidae (; from Latin , weasel) are a diverse family of carnivoran mammals, including weasels, badgers, otters, polecats, martens, grisons, and wolverines. Otherwise known as mustelids (), they form the largest family in the suborde ...

s which were present on the mainland. At that time, although the island was devoid of suitable habitat and food sources, the hope was that native

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

would regenerate naturally. It became apparent that natural afforestation was happening very slowly because a forest can only grow at its margins, and the island was covered mostly with dense grass and bracken fern. A plan was formulated to establish a nursery to collect cuttings and seed in order to expand the small pockets of forest habitat that were left in some of the valleys.

Pōhutukawa Pōhutukawa (''Metrosideros excelsa''), also known as the New Zealand Christmas tree, or iron tree, is a coastal evergreen tree in the Myrtus, myrtle family, Myrtaceae, that produces a brilliant display of red (or occasionally orange, yellow o ...

was chosen as the main tree as it would eventually provide perches and roosts for birds who would then excrete the seed of the fruits that they had been eating, which would then germinate around the pōhutukawa. The next intervention was eradication in 1993 of the

Polynesian rat The Polynesian rat, Pacific rat or little rat (''Rattus exulans''), or , is the third most widespread species of rat in the world behind the brown rat and black rat. Contrary to its vernacular name, the Polynesian rat originated in Southeast Asi ...

, known to Māori as ''kiore'', which was destroying seedlings and competing with birds for food. The kiore were killed by an aerial drop of poisoned bait, which was controversial due to its lack of planning and the effect on other wildlife. For instance, 90% of pūkeko on the island were killed, though the resident takahē were kept in an enclosure for the duration of the poisoning. Eighty-seven species of birds have been observed on or near the island. Eleven native species have been translocated to the island as part of the ongoing restoration project.Tiritiri Matangi Ecosystem Restoration
(from the Department of Conservation website) These are

red-crowned parakeet The red-crowned parakeet (''Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae''), also known as red-fronted parakeet and by its Māori language, Māori name of ,Parr, M., Juniper, T., D'Silva, C., Powell, D., Johnston, D., Franklin, K., & Restall, R. (2010). Parrots ...

(kākāriki, ''Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae''),

North Island saddleback The North Island saddleback (''Philesturnus rufusater'') is a forest-dwelling passerine bird species endemic (ecology), endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. It was once considered conspecific with the South Island saddleback. The IUCN lis ...

(tīeke, ''Philesturnus rufusater''),

brown teal The brown teal (''Anas chlorotis''; ) is a species of dabbling duck of the genus ''Anas'' native to New Zealand. For many years it had been considered to be conspecific with the flightless Auckland teal, Auckland and Campbell teals in ''Anas auc ...

(pāteke, ''Anas chlorotis''), whitehead (pōpokotea, ''Mohoua albicilla''),

(''Porphyrio hochstetteri''), little spotted kiwi (''Apteryx owenii''), stitchbird (hihi, ''Notiomystis cincta''),

(''Callaeas wilsoni''), fernbird (mātātā, ''Poodytes punctatus''), North Island

tomtit The tomtit (''Petroica macrocephala'') is a small passerine bird in the family (biology), family Petroicidae, the Australasian robins. It is endemic (ecology), endemic to the islands of New Zealand, ranging across the main islands as well as s ...

(miromiro, ''Petroica macrocephala toitoi)'', and

rifleman A rifleman is an infantry soldier armed with a rifling, rifled long gun. Although the rifleman role had its origin with 16th century hand cannoneers and 17th century musketeers, the term originated in the 18th century with the introduction o ...

(titipounamu, ''Acanthisitta chloris''). Non-avian translocations include 60

tuatara The tuatara (''Sphenodon punctatus'') is a species of reptile endemic to New Zealand. Despite its close resemblance to lizards, it is actually the only extant member of a distinct lineage, the previously highly diverse order Rhynchocephal ...

in 2003, Duvaucel's gecko in 2006 and a large insect wetapunga in 2011. Non-native species still present include the Australian

brown quail The brown quail (''Synoicus ypsilophorus''), also known as the swamp quail, silver quail and Tasmanian quail, is an Australasian true quail of the family Phasianidae. It is a small, ground-dwelling bird and is native to mainland Australia, Tasman ...

. The success of the conservation project encouraged the creation of a number of similar projects around the

Gulf A gulf is a large inlet from an ocean or their seas into a landmass, larger and typically (though not always) with a narrower opening than a bay (geography), bay. The term was used traditionally for large, highly indented navigable bodies of s ...

, such as on

Motuihe Motuihe Island (official name: Motuihe Island / Te Motu-a-Ihenga) lies between Motutapu and Waiheke islands in the Hauraki Gulf of New Zealand, near Auckland. The island measures , of which around are remnants of coastal forest. The island ...

, Motuora and Motutapu. The closest land on the tip of the Whangaparāoa Peninsula, Shakespear Regional Park has recently (2011) also become a mammalian pest-free fenced sanctuary, increasing immigration of the birds on Tiritiri to the nearby mainland. A ferry service runs from Auckland Ferry Terminal and Gulf Harbour, and guided tours are available.The island has hosted several tens of thousands of conservation volunteers.

References

External links

Supporters of Tiritiri Matangi
- conservation group
Tiritiri Matangi Scientific Reserve (Open Sanctuary)
at the Department of Conservation
Audio tour of Tiritiri Matangi, part 1
(Graeme Hill)
Audio tour of Tiritiri Matangi, part 2
(Graeme Hill) *https://kura.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/digital/collection/photos/search/searchterm/Tiritiri%20Matangi Photographs of Tiritiri Matangi Island] held in Auckland Libraries, Auckland Libraries' heritage collections. * {{Authority control Islands of the Hauraki Gulf Protected areas of the Auckland Region Nature reserves in New Zealand Island restoration Islands of the Auckland Region Hibiscus Coast Birdwatching sites in New Zealand