Island sanctuaries help to ensure the survival of many rare and endangered plant and animal species. They are especially valuable because they are easier to keep free of predators than mainland islands.
Tiritiri Matangi was gazetted as an
open Scientific Reserve in 1980. The island was then under the control of the
Hauraki Gulf Maritime Park Board and the Lands and Survey Dept.
A proposal was
put to the Hauraki Gulf Maritime Board by a number of interested people
including the University of Auckland, planners within the Lands and Survey
Dept. and various birding groups.
The idea was to re-vegetate
Tiritiri Matangi with plants grown on the island from seed sourced from the
island and to release rare and endangered species of birds on the island so
that visitors could see them in their natural habitat. There were a number
of reasons for this proposal. By establishing an open sanctuary as opposed
to a closed sanctuary like Little Barrier, it would take the pressure of
Little Barrier by visitors wanting to go there to see birds. As Tiritiri was
easily accessible from Auckland by ferry larger numbers of people could
visit. The island could be used to educate visitors on the ways to establish
new forest, give volunteers an opportunity to participate in conservation
programmes. By building an extensive network of tracks and asking visitors
to keep to them it was in fact the reverse to seeing birds in a zoo or in an
aviary situation, the visitors were in the aviary and the birds were allowed
free run of the island to breed and interact with each other.
Tiritiri Matangi ('a place tossed by the wind') was settled by the Kawerau-A-Maki tribe. They built the pa Tiritiri Matangi, from which the island takes its name. Main Kawerau settlements were in the west, and every ridge between Pa Point and Wattle Creek has remains of building sites and kumara storage pits. A large settlement existed at North East Bay. The Ngati Paoa tribe later moved into the area and established the Papakura (red rock) pa. This was destroyed in the 1700s during conflict between the two tribes.
Europeans arrived in the mid 1850's. The island was farmed continuously until the 1970's, when the Hauraki Gulf Maritime Park Board was given responsibility for Tiritiri and the last of the stock removed. Now the Department of Conservation administers Tiritiri as a scientific reserve, protecting the island for its wildlife, conservation, scientific, recreational and historical values.
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These two photographs were taken from the same perspective over 50 years apart, showing the growth in vegetation.
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1949
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2000
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