 A view along the coast of Enderby Island | |
 Topographical map of the Auckland Islands | |
| Geography | |
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| Coordinates | 50°29′45″S166°17′44″E / 50.49583°S 166.29556°E |
| Archipelago | Auckland Islands |
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New Zealand | |
Enderby Island is part of New Zealand's uninhabited Auckland Islands archipelago, south of mainland New Zealand. It is situated just off the northern tip of Auckland Island, the largest island in the archipelago.
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Enderby Island lies off the northeastern extremity of Auckland Island, directly across from the mouth of Port Ross, from which it is separated by some 3 kilometres (1.9 mi). Several islands lie in the strait between the two islands, notably Rose, Ewing, and Ocean Islands. Of these, Rose Island lies between the two closest points on Auckland and Enderby Island, separated from them by two narrow channels, each some 400 metres (440 yd) in width. The island comprises around 1% of the total land area of the Auckland island group. [1]
Enderby Island has few notable geographic features. It is surrounded by cliffs and rocky shorelines, with the only landing point being at Sandy Bay in the island's southwest. Several historic huts are located at this bay, which is also home to a breeding colony of New Zealand sea lions. Much of the island's interior is bog and wetland, drained by numerous small streams. A small lake, Teal Lake, is located close to the southeastern shore. The island's northernmost point, also the northernmost point in the Auckland Islands, is Derry Castle Reef, named after the ship Derry Castle , which foundered there in 1887.
Enderby Island is perched on the Campbell Plateau and is composed of eroding volcanic remains from eruptions that occurred between 25 and 10 million years ago.
Polynesian explorers arrived at Enderby Island in the 13th or 14th centuries, about the time mainland New Zealand was settled. Archaeological excavations revealed their presence at Sandy Bay, in a sheltered and relatively hospitable location, accessible to seal colonies. [2] Excavated earth ovens contained the bones of seals and sea lions, fishes, mussels, albatrosses and petrels. The Polynesians stayed for one or more summers and left behind scrapers, tools, and fish hooks. [3] [4]
After the Polynesians departed, the Auckland Islands were uninhabited until they were rediscovered by Abraham Bristow aboard the whaling ship Ocean in 1806. He named the island after the owners of his ship, Samuel Enderby & Sons.
On 20 March 1887, Derry Castle, an iron barque registered in Boston, Massachusetts, ran aground off Enderby Island nine days into its journey. The ship was en route from Geelong, Victoria to Falmouth, Cornwall and was crewed by a complement of twenty-three sailors. It carried one passenger and a cargo of wheat. The Derry Castle was owned by P. Richardson & Co. and was under the command of Captain J. Goffe. [5]
The surviving members of the Derry Castle crew found a castaway depot at Sandy Bay. They proceeded to construct some further crude shelters around this depot. On a cliff overlooking the water, they buried the bodies of their fellow crew members that had washed ashore. The grave was marked with the ship's figurehead. [5]
After 192 days the Derry Castle was officially posted as missing by Lloyd's of London. On 21 September 1887, a 45-ton steamer, the Awarua, arrived in Hobson's Bay, Victoria, Australia, returning from an illegal sealing expedition in the Auckland Islands. On board the Awarua were the remaining eight survivors from the Derry Castle. [5]
The Derry Castle grave site was maintained for many years by the New Zealand government until it sank into the ground. However, during World War II, the ship's figurehead was resurrected by coastwatchers stationed on the islands in the Cape Expedition programme. The figurehead can now be viewed (along with other items from the wreck) at the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch, New Zealand. In its place, a tombstone now marks the site of the sailors' graves. [5]
Enderby Island was cleared of introduced species, such as cattle, pig, rabbit and rat in 1994, and by 2015 the abundance of wildlife was notable compared with Auckland Island. [6] [7] The island is part of the Auckland Island group Important Bird Area (IBA), identified as such by BirdLife International because of the significance of the group as a breeding site for several species of seabirds as well as the endemic Auckland shag, Auckland teal, Auckland rail and Auckland snipe. [8] [1]
Other fauna include the brown skua, New Zealand pipit, New Zealand sea lion, northern giant petrel and yellow-eyed penguin. Dominant vegetation include rata forest and megaherbs such as the Campbell Island carrot. [6]
Holocene bird bones recovered from sand dunes on Enderby Island largely comprise seabirds still found in the Auckland Islands today, but the abundance of certain species has changed over time. [9]
As with rabbits, cattle were introduced to Enderby Island in the late 19th century. [10] Shorthorn cattle were brought to the island by whalers in 1894 where they proceeded to survive on kelp and other island flora, becoming a distinctive wild variety. [10] By the mid-1980s, the cattle had nearly denuded Enderby Island of its growth, a problem that came to the attention of New Zealand's Department of Conservation. [10] In response, efforts were made to eradicate cattle on the island. [10] By the mid-1990s, only one cow, 'Lady', remained. Lady was taken to mainland New Zealand in February 1993. Since then she has been the subject of intense efforts to save the variety, efforts that have included cloning. [10] Lady died in May 2009, aged more than twenty years.
A distinct variety of rabbit lived on Enderby Island. [11] Rabbits are not indigenous to the island; their ancestors were brought from Australia in October 1865 to serve as food for shipwreck survivors. [11] Following their introduction, the population was isolated for almost 130 years. [11] The rabbits were eradicated from the island in the early 1990s, though some were rescued and the breed survives in captivity. Enderby Island rabbits are predominantly silver-grey in colour but a recessive gene ensures that a small percentage is cream or beige. [11]
The Auckland Islands are an archipelago of New Zealand, lying 465 km (289 mi) south of the South Island. The main Auckland Island, occupying 460 km2 (180 sq mi), is surrounded by smaller Adams Island, Enderby Island, Disappointment Island, Ewing Island, Rose Island, Dundas Island, and Green Island, with a combined area of 570 km2 (220 sq mi). The islands have no permanent human inhabitants.
Macquarie Island is an island in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica. Regionally part of Oceania and politically a part of Tasmania, Australia, since 1900, it became a Tasmanian State Reserve in 1978 and was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.
Auckland Island is the main island of the eponymous uninhabited archipelago in the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the New Zealand subantarctic area. It is inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage list together with the other New Zealand Subantarctic Islands in the region.
The yellow-eyed penguin, known also as hoiho, is a species of penguin endemic to New Zealand.
Campbell Island / Motu Ihupuku is an uninhabited subantarctic island of New Zealand, and the main island of the Campbell Island group. It covers 112.68 square kilometres (43.51 sq mi) of the group's 113.31 km2 (43.75 sq mi), and is surrounded by numerous stacks, rocks and islets like Dent Island, Folly Island, Isle de Jeanette-Marie, and Jacquemart Island, the latter being the southernmost extremity of New Zealand. The island is mountainous, rising to over 500 metres (1,640 ft) in the south. A long fiord, Perseverance Harbour, nearly bisects it, opening out to sea on the east coast.
The New Zealand Subantarctic Islands comprise the five southernmost groups of the New Zealand outlying islands. They are collectively designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The double-banded plover, known as the banded dotterel or pohowera in New Zealand, is a species of bird in the plover family. Two subspecies are recognised: the nominate Charadrius bicinctus bicinctus, which breeds throughout New Zealand, including the Chatham Islands, and Charadrius bicinctus exilis, which breeds in New Zealand's subantarctic Auckland Islands.
Rose Island is an uninhabited island and, with an area of 121 hectares, the fifth largest of the Auckland Islands group, a subantarctic chain that forms part of the New Zealand Outlying Islands.
The southern royal albatross or toroa, is a large seabird from the albatross family. At an average wingspan of above 3 m (9.8 ft), it is one of the two largest species of albatross, together with the wandering albatross. Recent studies indicate that the southern royal albatross may, on average, be somewhat larger than the wandering albatross in mass and have a similar wingspan, although other sources indicate roughly similar size for the two species and the wandering species may have a larger average wingspan in some colonies.
Enderby Island Cattle are a breed of cattle that existed in a wild state in isolation on Enderby Island, New Zealand for over 80 years. Only about seven specimens remain today, after a rescue expedition by the Rare Breeds Conservation Society of New Zealand (RBCSNZ), and a culling program to protect the native flora and fauna of Enderby Island. There have since been intensive efforts at breeding the cattle, involving both in vitro fertilisation and cloning, and there is an ongoing program to perpetuate the breed in captivity.
The grey-backed storm petrel is a species of seabird in the austral storm petrel family Oceanitidae. It is monotypic within the genus Garrodia. It is found in Antarctica, Argentina, Australia, Chile, Falkland Islands, French Southern Territories, New Zealand, Saint Helena, South Africa, and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. Its natural habitat is open seas. It is highly attracted to bright lights, especially in conditions of low visibility.
The grey-faced petrel is a species of petrel endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. In New Zealand it is also known by its Māori name ōi and as a muttonbird.
Disappointment Island is one of seven uninhabited islands in the Auckland Islands archipelago, in New Zealand. It is 475 kilometres (295 mi) south of the country's main South Island and 8 kilometres (5 mi) from the northwest end of Auckland Island. It is home to a large colony of white-capped albatrosses: about 65,000 pairs – nearly the entire world's population – nest there. Also on the island is the Auckland rail, endemic to the archipelago; once thought to be extinct, it was rediscovered in 1966.
The Enderby Island Rabbit, or simply Enderby rabbit or Enderby, is a rare breed of domesticated European rabbit. It originates from rabbits introduced to Enderby Island, an uninhabited subantarctic island in New Zealand’s Auckland Islands group, from Australia in October 1865 to serve as castaway food. Over 130 years the isolated population became a distinctive variety. The rabbits were eventually exterminated for wildlife management from Enderby Island in the early 1990s, but a breeding group of 49 rabbits was rescued by the Rare Breeds Conservation Society of New Zealand in September 1992. Since then rabbit breeders have maintained numbers at around 100-150 individuals, primarily through the work of Sitereh Schouten and the Enderby Island Rabbit Club of NZ. They have ensured breed purity with pedigrees and ear tattoos which exclusively include a Z along with an individual number.
The Rare Breeds Conservation Society of New Zealand (RBCSNZ) was founded in 1988 to conserve, record and promote rare livestock breeds with the aim of maintaining genetic diversity within livestock species. The area of coverage is broad, and includes poultry as well as camelids, cattle, chinchillas, deer, donkeys, goats, horses, pigs, rabbits and sheep.
A castaway depot is a store or hut placed on an isolated island to provide emergency supplies and relief for castaways and victims of shipwrecks.
The Derry Castle was a 1,367 ton iron barque built at Glasgow in 1883, and initially operating out of Limerick, Ireland. She had been registered there on 19 November 1883 by Francis Spaight & Sons. In 1887 while voyaging from Australia to the United Kingdom with a cargo of wheat, she foundered off Enderby Island, in the subantarctic Auckland Islands, on a reef which now bears her name.
Port Ross is a natural harbour on Auckland Island in the Auckland Islands Group, a subantarctic chain that forms part of the New Zealand Outlying Islands.
The Auckland snipe, also known as the Auckland Island snipe, is a small bird in the sandpiper family. It is the isolated nominate subspecies of the subantarctic snipe that is endemic to the Auckland Islands, a subantarctic island group south of New Zealand in the Southern Ocean.
Megaherbs are a group of herbaceous wildflowers growing in the New Zealand subantarctic islands and on the other subantarctic islands. They are characterised by their great size, with huge leaves and very large and often unusually coloured flowers, which have evolved as an adaptation to the harsh weather conditions on the islands. They suffer from overgrazing due to introduced mammals.
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