Macauley Island
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| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | South Pacific Ocean |
| Coordinates | 30°14S, 178°26W |
| Archipelago | Kermadec Islands |
| Area | 3.06 km2 (1.18 sq mi) |
| Length | 2.5 km (1.55 mi) |
| Width | 1.8 km (1.12 mi) |
| Highest elevation | 238 m (781 ft) |
| Administration | |
New Zealand | |
| Demographics | |
| Population | Uninhabited |
Macauley Island is a volcanic island in New Zealand's Kermadec Islands, approximately halfway between New Zealand's North Island and Tonga in the southwest Pacific Ocean. Its co-ordinates are 30°14′S 178°26′W / 30.233°S 178.433°W
Macauley Island is 3.06 km2 (1.181 sq mi) in area, including neighbouring Haszard Island, which is 220 m (722 ft) to the east and about 5 ha (12 acres) in area. Macauley's highest point is 238 m (781 ft) Mount Haszard, and it forms part of the rim of a caldera centred 8 km (5 mi) to the north-west, atop a large submarine volcano. The volcano's last eruption was in 4360 BC ± 200 years.
History
Lieutenant John Watts, RN was the first European to visit Macauley and Curtis Islands — which he named after patrons George Mackenzie Macaulay, a London merchant and Alderman, and William Curtis — on the Lady Penrhyn in the late 1788.[1] The Lady Penryn had delivered convicts to New South Wales as part of the First Fleet and was proceeding to Macao.
Flora and fauna
The island is a breeding site for large numbers of Black-winged and White-necked Petrels. Other seabirds recorded as breeding there include Grey Noddies, Sooty Terns, Masked Boobies, Red-tailed Tropicbirds, Wedge-tailed Shearwaters, Kermadec Little Shearwaters, Kermadec Petrels and Kermadec Storm-petrels. The island also holds a population of the Kermadec Red-crowned Parakeet. Former populations of goats and Kiore have been eradicated.[2] The island forms part of the Kermadec Islands Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because it is an important site for nesting seabirds.[3]
Conservation
The original forest cover of the island had been burnt off and goats were introduced as food for shipwreck survivors. The goats were eradicated by the New Zealand Wildlife Service in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In order to protect the island's wildlife, Macauley is managed as a nature reserve by the New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC). In 2006, DOC used aerial drops of poison bait in order to remove introduced rats.
See also
- Island restoration
- List of islands of New Zealand
- List of volcanoes in New Zealand
- New Zealand outlying islands
References
Notes
- ^ Alderman Macaulay 1750-1803, The Worshipful Company of Bowyers, retrieved 2012-02-23
- ^ Greene et al. (2004).
- ^ BirdLife International. (2012). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Kermadec Islands. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 2012-02-03.
Sources
- Volcanic history of Macauley Island, Kermadec Ridge, New Zealand, Royal Society of New Zealand]
- "Macauley Island". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution.
- Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand (2006) Rats removed from Macauley Island. Forest and Bird 321: 8.
- Greene, T.C.; Scofield, R.P.; & Dilks, P.J. (July 2004). Status of Kermadec red-crowned parakeets and the likely effects of a proposed kiore eradication programme. Macauley Island expedition July 2002 (PDF). DOC Science Internal Series 179. Wellington: Department of Conservation, New Zealand. ISBN 0-478-22579-2.
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External links
- Department of Conservation - Kermadec Islands page
- Map of Macauley and Giggenbach submarine volcanoes—Picture of island and article by Ian Wright, Ocean Geology, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, Wellington, New Zealand
- Te Ara - the Encyclopaedia of New Zealand - "The last goat on Macauley Island"
