Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands

Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands
Ngā Motu Karaka
	Tasman Bay, on Manawatāwhi / Great Island
	Map of the Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands
	Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands Location of the Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands in New Zealand
Geography
Coordinates	34°09′14″S172°8′24″E / 34.15389°S 172.14000°E
Total islands	13
Area	6.85 km2 (2.64 sq mi)
Highest elevation	295 m (968 ft)
Administration
	NZL New Zealand
Demographics
Population	None

Last updated April 15, 2024

The Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands (sometimes just known collectively by the Māori name for the largest island, Manawatāwhi) are a group of 13 uninhabited islands about 55 kilometres (34 mi) northwest of Cape Reinga / Te Rerenga Wairua, New Zealand, where the South Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea converge. They measure 6.85 km² (2.64 sq mi) in area.^[1] The islands are on a submarine plateau, the Three Kings Bank, and are separated from the New Zealand mainland by an 8 km wide, 200 to 300 m deep submarine trough. Therefore, despite relative proximity to the mainland, the islands are listed with the New Zealand Outlying Islands. The islands are an immediate part of New Zealand, but not part of any region or district, but instead Area Outside Territorial Authority, like all the other outlying islands except the Solander Islands.

History

During the Last Glacial Maximum when sea levels were over 100 metres lower than present day levels, most offshore islands of New Zealand were connected to the mainland. Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands, while connected to each other, were not connected to the rest of New Zealand. Sea levels began to rise 7,000 years ago, separating the individual islands in the group.^[2]

Manawatāwhi was traditionally settled by Muriwhenua Māori.^[3]^[4] In Māori mythology, Ōhau (West Island) is the final glimpse of New Zealand seen by departing spirits, after leaving the world at Cape Reinga / Te Rerenga Wairua.^[4] Some Te Aupōuri traditions associate the name of the island, Manawatāwhi ("panting breath"), with the ancestor Rauru, who swam to the islands and arrived exhausted.^[5] Members of Ngāti Kurī would periodically come to the islands as a refuge during times of warfare, and to harvest hāpuku, seabirds and eggs.^[5]

`Most of the larger islands were inhabited, and the Great Island was cleared by Māori of vegetation to grow tuber crops such as kūmara.^[3] No defensive pā sites are found on the island, likely as the people who lived on Manawatāwhi did not feel threatened due to the islands' distance from the mainland.^[3]

Dutch explorer Abel Tasman bestowed the name Drie Koningen Eyland (Three Kings Island) on 6 January 1643, three weeks after he became the first European known to have seen New Zealand. Tasman anchored at the islands when searching for water. As it was the Twelfth Night feast of the Epiphany, the day the biblical three kings known as the wise men visited Christ the child, he named the main island accordingly. Tasman also named a prominent cape Cape Maria van Diemen , after the wife of Anthony van Diemen, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). These are the only two geographic features in New Zealand to retain the names given to them by Abel Tasman. Tasman noted a group of 30-35 inhabitants on the island when attempting to come ashore to replenish water supplies, and saw no trees on the island.^[4] Since Tasman's visit, several European ships sighted the island, such as French botanist Jacques Labillardière on board the Recherche in 1793.^[4]

In the late 1700s, a party of mainland Te Aupōuri led by Taiakiaki travelled to the islands and killed the approximate 100 inhabitants, led by Toumaramara.^[5]^[3] Between 1800 and 1830 Te Aupōuri visited sporadically, however did not settle permanently.^[3] Tame Porena (also known as Tom Bowline) married Taiakiaki's granddaughter, and settled on the islands with his family of twelve children in the 1830s and 1840s, establishing large gardens, until starvation forced them to relocate to the mainland.^[5]^[3] Since then, nobody has settled on the islands permanently. Botanist Thomas Frederic Cheeseman visited the islands in 1887 and 1889, documenting the plant species present on the islands for the first time.^[3] Cheeseman noted that the Great Island had begun to reforest since Māori settlement.^[4]

The islands were purchased by the New Zealand government in 1908 from seven Māori people, and declared an animal sanctuary in 1930.^[4] A population of goats (left on the Manawatāwhi Island in November 1889 as a food source for shipwrecked people) had run rampant, reaching numbers of 300-400 goats by 1900.^[4]^[3] This led Baden Powell of the Auckland War Memorial Museum, who visited in a group, to petition the government to deal with the goat population. In 1946 the goat population were shot and removed from the island, leading to the regeneration of forest on Manawatāwhi.^[4] However, 50 species described by Cheeseman in the 1880s have not been described again,^[4] and by the 1980s two plant species were only represented by one wild specimen.^[3] In 1956, the islands were declared a reserve for the preservation of flora and fauna.^[4]

There have been several notable research expeditions that have concentrated on studying the fauna and flora of the Three Kings island group including the Three Kings Islands expedition 1970.^[6]

Geography

Map including the Three Kings Islands (top left) (DMA, 1972) Txu-oclc-6654394-sj-60-1st-ed.jpg — Map including the Three Kings Islands (top left) (DMA, 1972)

The Three Kings group falls into two subgroups with four main inhospitable islands and a number of smaller rocks on a submarine plateau called King Bank which rises out of extremely deep water. There are no beaches.^[5] The surrounding sea has very clear visibility and contains teeming fish life, attracting hundreds of divers. Another attraction is the wreck of the Elingamite which foundered there on 9 November 1902.

King Group

Manawatāwhi / Great Island

With an area of 4.04 square kilometres (1.56 sq mi), Manawatāwhi / Great Island is by far the largest island of the group. A northeastern peninsula, with an area of about 1 km², is almost cut off by a 200 m wide but more than 80 m high isthmus formed by North West Bay and South East Bay. The island reaches an elevation of 295 m in the western part, while the peninsula is up to 184 m high near its western cliffs. The southern portion consists of the Tasman Valley, a series of rolling hills that drain into the Tasman Stream.^[3] Most of the Māori archaeological features on the islands are found in this area.^[3]

Oromaki / North East Island

A smaller island about 0.10 square kilometres (0.039 sq mi) in size and reaching a height of 111 metres (364 ft), approximately 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) northeast of Manawatāwhi. The island is surrounded by 70-90m high cliffs.^[3] Māori stonework and terracing can be found on the island.^[3]

Farmer Rocks

Farmer Rocks, 0.8 km east of Manawatāwhi / Great Island, are 5 metres high and just a few hundred square metres in size.

Southwest Group

Moekawa / South West Island

The second largest island of the group, at 0.38 square kilometres (0.15 sq mi) and a height of 207 metres (679 ft). It is about 4.5 km southwest of Great island. The island is surrounded by 80-120m high cliffs.^[3]

The Princes Islands

The Princes Islands are seven small islets and numerous rocks with a total area of about 0.2 km², start 600 m west of South West Island and stretch about 1.8 km east–west. The north-eastern islet is the highest at 106 m. The smallest islet is Rosemary Rock. These islands are sparsely vegetated.^[3]

Ōhau / West Island

The third largest island at 0.16 km², found 500m southwest of the westernmost of the Princes Islands. It is 177m high, surrounded by 40-130m high cliffs.^[3] The island plays an important part in the traditional Māori belief that the spirits of dead Māori return to their Pacific homeland of Hawaiki. Near Cape Reinga on the mainland, sometimes translated as the underworld, is a gnarled Pōhutukawa tree reputed to be more than 800 years old. The spirits are believed to journey to the tree and down its roots into the sea bed. They are said to surface again on Ōhau and say a last farewell to New Zealand before going on to Hawaiki.

Geology

The islands have a volcanic origin.

Flora and fauna

Flora

In 1945, G. T. S. Baylis made a remarkable discovery on the Three Kings Islands, when he found the last remaining specimen anywhere of a tree which is now called Pennantia baylisiana , a kaikomako. It was recognised internationally as the world's rarest and thus most endangered tree. Extremely careful propagation in New Zealand has resulted in the species being reliably established, but it continues to be carefully monitored. The islands were made a wildlife sanctuary in 1995. Other plants endemic to the islands include Tecomanthe speciosa and Elingamita johnsonii .

Fauna

The Three Kings have extremely high levels of endemism, even compared to other isolated islands. About 35% of its beetle species are found nowhere else, and there are six endemic genera: Gourlayia (Carabidae), Heterodoxa and Pseudopisalia (both Staphylinidae), Partystona and Zomedes (both Tenebrionidae) and Tribasileus (Anthribidae). There are probably another seven undescribed endemic genera.^[7]

Falla's Skink (Oligosoma fallai) is a reptile species only found on these islands.

Geobiology

There is considerable evidence that the Three Kings Islands have not been recently connected to the North Island landmass but have been connected to each other by land bridges. Genetic studies of different insect populations have suggested different separation times from similar species found in the North Island varying from 24 million years ago to 2.24 million years ago.^[8] Further, some species of these islands that are within eyeshot of northern New Zealand have stronger genetic links to species now found in Australia or New Caledonia or no genetic links to present New Zealand species. These include the flax snail, Placostylus bollonsi Suter^[9]

Nature reserve

Three Kings Island is a nature reserve administered by the Department of Conservation. Rats and mice were never introduced to the Three Kings, although goats were introduced to Great Island and caused significant damage to the vegetation and soil.^[7]

Related Research Articles

The Northland Region is the northernmost of New Zealand's 16 local government regions. New Zealanders sometimes refer to it as the Winterless North because of its mild climate all throughout the year. The main population centre is the city of Whangārei, and the largest town is Kerikeri. At the 2018 New Zealand census, Northland recorded a population growth spurt of 18.1% since the previous 2013 census, placing it as the fastest growing region in New Zealand, ahead of other strong growth regions such as the Bay of Plenty Region and Waikato.

Cape Reinga, and officially Cape Reinga / Te Rerenga Wairua, is the northwesternmost tip of the Aupōuri Peninsula, at the northern end of the North Island of New Zealand. Cape Reinga is more than 100 km north of the nearest small town of Kaitaia.

Te-Oneroa-a-Tōhē / Ninety Mile Beach is on the western coast of the far north of the North Island of New Zealand. The beach is actually 88 kilometres long. Its southern end is close to the headland of Tauroa Point, to the west of Ahipara Bay, near Kaitaia. From there it sweeps briefly northeast before running northwest along the Aupōuri Peninsula for the majority of its length. It ends at Tiriparepa / Scott Point, 5 kilometres (3 mi) south of Cape Maria van Diemen and about 10 kilometres (6 mi) south of Cape Reinga / Te Rerenga Wairua.

The Northland Peninsula, called the North Auckland Peninsula in earlier times, is in the far north of the North Island of New Zealand. It is joined to the rest of the island by the Auckland isthmus, a narrow piece of land between the Waitematā Harbour and the Manukau Harbour in the middle of the Auckland metropolitan area. The peninsula is not conterminous with the local government area of Northland Region, which occupies the northern 80% of the peninsula. The southern section of the peninsula is administratively part of the Auckland Region.

The Far North District is the northernmost territorial authority district of New Zealand, consisting of the northern part of the Northland Peninsula in the North Island. It stretches from North Cape / Otou and Cape Reinga / Te Rerenga Wairua in the north, down to the Bay of Islands, the Hokianga and the town of Kaikohe.

North Cape / Otou is the northernmost point of New Zealand's main islands. At the northeastern tip of the Aupōuri Peninsula, the cape lies 30 kilometres (19 mi) east and three kilometres (1.9 mi) north of Cape Reinga. The name North Cape is sometimes used to refer just to the cape that is known in Māori as Otou and which overlooks Murimotu Island, and sometimes just to the eastern point of Murimotu Island. It is also used to refer to the whole larger headland stretching about five kilometres from Murimotu Island westwards to Kerr Point and including the Surville Cliffs. Statistics New Zealand uses a statistical area called North Cape for population data, extending south down the Aupōuri Peninsula to the Houhora Heads.

Spirits Bay, officially named Piwhane / Spirits Bay, is a remote bay at the northern end of the Aupouri Peninsula, which forms the northern tip of New Zealand's North Island. It lies between Cape Reinga / Te Rerenga Wairua in the west and Ngataea / Hooper Point in the east. It is one of two bays in the short length of coast at the top of the North Island.

The Aupōuri Peninsula is a tombolo at the northern tip of the North Island of New Zealand. It projects between the Tasman Sea to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east. It constitutes the northern part of the Far North District, incorporating North Cape, Houhora and the northern half of Awanui.

Te Aupōuri is the second northernmost Māori iwi, located north of Kaitaia, Northland, New Zealand, a region known as the Te Hiku o te Ika. The iwi is one of the six Muriwhenua iwi of the far north of the North Island.

Pennantia baylisiana, commonly known as Three Kings kaikōmako or kaikōmako manawatāwhi (Māori), is a species of plant in the family Pennantiaceae. It is endemic to Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands, around 55 kilometres (34 mi) northwest of Cape Reinga, New Zealand. At the time of its discovery just one plant remained. This single tree grows on a scree slope inaccessible to browsing goats, and has been called "the world's loneliest tree". The species was discovered in 1945 by botanist Geoff Baylis and described in 1948, although it took decades before it was it was fully accepted as a distinct species of Pennantia. Although the only wild tree is female, it was successfully propagated from cuttings in the 1950s, one of which was induced to self-pollinate in 1985. Subsequent seed-grown plants have themselves set seeds, and the species has been replanted on the island, the adjoining mainland, and in public and private gardens around New Zealand.

Houhora is a locality and harbour on the east side of the Aupouri Peninsula of Northland, New Zealand. It is 41 km (25 mi) north of Kaitaia. Waihopo, Te Raupo, Pukenui, Raio and Houhora Heads are associated localities on the southern shores of the harbour. State Highway 1 passes through all these localities except for Houhora Heads. Te Kao is 24 km north west, and Waiharara is 22 km south east.

Te Kao is a village on the Aupouri Peninsula of Northland, New Zealand. Te Aupōuri are mana whenua over Te Kao and the surrounding district, and it is the principal settlement of the iwi (tribe). Te Aupōuri's Post-Settlement Governance Entity, Te Runanga Nui o Te Aupōuri, has an office at Te Kao, along with the iwi's marae and urupa. State Highway 1 passes through the district. Cape Reinga is 46 km to the north, and Houhora is 24 km to the south. The Aupouri Forest and Ninety Mile Beach are to the west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ngāi Takoto</span> Māori iwi in New Zealand

Ngāi Takoto is a Māori iwi from Northland, New Zealand. The iwi is one of the six Muriwhenua iwi of the far north of the North Island. Ngāi Takoto trace their whakapapa (ancestry) back to Tuwhakatere, and trace their arrival in New Zealand to the Kurahaupo waka (canoe). The rohe of the iwi is focused on the upper North Island and extends to Kermadec Islands, Three Kings Island, Cape Reinga, Pao Island, Ninety Mile Beach, Waimimiha River, Ohaku hills, Whangatane River, Rangaunu Harbour and North Cape.

Ngāti Kurī is a Māori iwi from Northland, New Zealand. The iwi is one of the five Muriwhenua iwi of the far north of the North Island. Ngāti Kurī trace their whakapapa (ancestry) back to Pōhurihanga, the captain of the waka (canoe) Kurahaupō. Kurī, in Māori, means "dog". The rohe of the iwi is focused on the most northern tip of the North Island and includes the Kermadec Islands, Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands, Cape Reinga / Te Rerenga Wairua, Ninety Mile Beach, Parengarenga Harbour, Te Kao and Houhora.

Placostylus ambagiosus is a species of flax snail, a large air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the family Bothriembryontidae.

Muriwhenua are a group of northern Māori iwi, based in Te Hiku o te Ika, the northernmost part of New Zealand's North Island. It consists of six iwi, Ngāti Kurī, Ngāi Takoto, Te Pātū, Ngāti Kahu, Te Aupōuri and Te Rarawa, with a combined population of about 34,000 people. The spiritually significant Hokianga Harbour, located just to the south of the Maungataniwha Range, is of special significance to the Muriwhenua people.

Amychus manawatawhi, commonly known as the Three Kings click beetle, is a large flightless click beetle in the family Elateridae, found only on the Three Kings Islands of New Zealand.

Te Paki Sand Dunes, also called the Giant Sand Dunes, are a collection of sand dunes located on the Northland Peninsula of New Zealand. The dunes abut the Ninety Mile Beach and are a popular spot for sandboarding.

The Three Kings Ridge, sometimes known as Three Kings Rise and more rarely at its southern end as the Three Kings Bank is a deep sea westward facing volcanic arc of Zealandia continental crust extending from 55 kilometres (34 mi) northwest of Cape Reinga / Te Rerenga Wairua, New Zealand on a line bisecting New Caledonia and Fiji in the South Pacific Ocean. Its southern portion contains the Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands which have biological significance as they are host to unique species and important marine ecosystems.

References

↑ "Data Table - Protected Areas - LINZ Data Service (recorded area 684.7281 ha)". Land Information New Zealand . Retrieved 27 August 2019.
↑ "Estuary origins". National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research . Retrieved 3 November 2021.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Hayward, Bruce W. (1987). "Prehistoric Archaeological Sites on the Three Kings Islands, Northern New Zealand". Records of the Auckland Institute and Museum . 24: 147–161. ISSN 0067-0464. JSTOR 42906371. Wikidata Q58677302.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Stokes, Dame Evelyn (2002). "THE MURIWHENUA LAND CLAIMS POST 1865 WAI 45 AND OTHERS" (PDF). Waitangi Tribunal. New Zealand Government. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
1 2 3 4 5 Judd, Warren (1996). "The clifftop world of the Three Kings". New Zealand Geographic (29). Retrieved 13 January 2019.
↑ G. W. Ramsay (January 1971). "THE D.S.I.R. ENTOMOLOGY DIVISION 1970 EXPEDITION TO THE THREE KINGS ISLANDS". New Zealand Entomologist. 5 (1): 13–17. doi:10.1080/00779962.1971.9722946. ISSN 0077-9962. Wikidata Q105726736.
1 2 Marris, John W. M. (2001). Beetles of conservation interest from the Three Kings Islands: a report submitted to the Department of Conservation, Northland Conservancy. Lincoln: Ecology and Entomology Group, Lincoln University. hdl:10182/2996.
↑ Buckley, Thomas R.; Leschen, Richard A. B. (2013). "Comparative phylogenetic analysis reveals long-term isolation of lineages on the Three Kings Islands, New Zealand". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 108 (2): 361–377. doi: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2012.02009.x .
↑ WF, Ponder; Colgan, DJ; Gleeson, DM; Sherley, GH (2003). "Relationships of Placostylus from Lord Howe Island: an investigation using the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase 1 gene". Molluscan Research. 23 (2): 159–178. doi:10.1071/MR03001.

External links

Diving at Three Kings Islands travel guide from Wikivoyage
Topographic maps of New Zealand
Nautical description (see page 211)

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
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[1] "Data Table - Protected Areas - LINZ Data Service (recorded area 684.7281 ha)". Land Information New Zealand . Retrieved 27 August 2019.

[Niwa-2] "Estuary origins". National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research . Retrieved 3 November 2021.

[Hayward-3] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Hayward, Bruce W. (1987). "Prehistoric Archaeological Sites on the Three Kings Islands, Northern New Zealand". Records of the Auckland Institute and Museum . 24: 147–161. ISSN 0067-0464. JSTOR 42906371. Wikidata Q58677302.

[Muriwhenua-4] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Stokes, Dame Evelyn (2002). "THE MURIWHENUA LAND CLAIMS POST 1865 WAI 45 AND OTHERS" (PDF). Waitangi Tribunal. New Zealand Government. Retrieved 25 February 2021.

[NzGeo-5] 1 2 3 4 5 Judd, Warren (1996). "The clifftop world of the Three Kings". New Zealand Geographic (29). Retrieved 13 January 2019.

[Ramsey1971-6] G. W. Ramsay (January 1971). "THE D.S.I.R. ENTOMOLOGY DIVISION 1970 EXPEDITION TO THE THREE KINGS ISLANDS". New Zealand Entomologist. 5 (1): 13–17. doi:10.1080/00779962.1971.9722946. ISSN 0077-9962. Wikidata Q105726736.

[:0-7] 1 2 Marris, John W. M. (2001). Beetles of conservation interest from the Three Kings Islands: a report submitted to the Department of Conservation, Northland Conservancy. Lincoln: Ecology and Entomology Group, Lincoln University. hdl:10182/2996.

[Buckley2013-8] Buckley, Thomas R.; Leschen, Richard A. B. (2013). "Comparative phylogenetic analysis reveals long-term isolation of lineages on the Three Kings Islands, New Zealand". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 108 (2): 361–377. doi: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2012.02009.x .

[Ponder2003-9] WF, Ponder; Colgan, DJ; Gleeson, DM; Sherley, GH (2003). "Relationships of Placostylus from Lord Howe Island: an investigation using the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase 1 gene". Molluscan Research. 23 (2): 159–178. doi:10.1071/MR03001.

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