Kermadec Islands
Introduction
Lying some 1000 kilometres northeast of New Zealand, the Kermadec Islands Nature Reserve is the most remote conservation area managed by the Department of Conservation.
All islands of the Kermadec group, of which Raoul Island is one, are part of a specially protected nature reserve and can only be visited with a landing permit from the Department of Conservation.
Masked booby
The waters surrounding the Kermadec Islands are also protected in the Kermadec Marine Reserve, which at 745,000ha is New Zealand’s largest. Visitors are free to explore and enjoy the marine reserve.
Location
Kermadec Islands, 1000 kilometres northeast of New Zealand.
Getting there
The Kermadec Islands are remote and can only be accessed by private boat or charter vessel.
Features
Kermadec Islands Nature Reserve
Conservation programme
Historic and cultural heritage
Raoul Island
The Kermadecs are a chain of islands spread over 250km along the western ridge of the Kermadec Trench. They consist of four groups of islands and rocks.
Raoul Island, the largest, lies to the north of the group. Macauley Island, the next largest, is about 120km south of Raoul. Smaller islands make up the rest of the group, including Meyer Islands northeast of Raoul, Curtis and Cheeseman to the south of Macauley, and isolated rocks like L’Esperance Rock, the southern-most outcrop.
The islands are the summits of young, steep-sided volcanoes that rise some 8000m from the sea floor. They lie on the edge of the Kermadec Trench, where the large and active Pacific Plate buries itself under the Australasian Plate. The area is volcanically active and earthquakes are an almost daily occurrence. Raoul Island last erupted in 2006 and in 1964 before that.
The Kermadecs have a mild and subtropical climate. About 1500mm of rain falls each year and cyclones occasionally wreak havoc.
The islands are uninhabited, apart from Raoul where the Department of Conservation maintains a staffed field station. Staff and volunteers on the island collect meteorological and seismological information, control weeds, and maintain the facilities. DOC rangers also police the nature and marine reserves.
Kermadec Islands Nature Reserve
Most of the Kermadec Islands were made a nature reserve in 1934. As one of the highest levels of protection under New Zealand law, this status recognises the special and fragile nature of the islands’ ecosystems and native plants and animals.
The Kermadecs have never been connected to mainland New Zealand, and a unique assemblage of species of subtropical and temperate origins has developed, many of which are found nowhere else.
Of the 113 plants native to the Kermadecs, 23 species or subspecies of plant are endemic. Raoul, the only forested island, has a unique forest mix, with the dominant canopy species being Kermadec pohutukawa and Kermadec nikau. Pohutukawa and mapou dominate in the drier coastal areas below 250m, while above this, pohutukawa remains but mapou gives way to hutu. In places, large, almost pure stands of Kermadec nikau can be found adding to the other-worldliness of the mist-shrouded highlands.
Kermadec petrel
Thirty-five bird species are known on the islands, five of which are found nowhere else in the world. Significant species include “tropical” birds such as the red-tailed tropic bird, the masked booby, two species of noddy, terns and the grey ternlet. The Meyer Islands are one of the few remaining strongholds of the Kermadec petrel. Curtis and Macauley islands have the worlds largest populations of Kermadec allied shearwater and black-winged petrel. The endemic white-naped petrel and the regionally- threatened white-bellied storm petrel breed only on Macauley
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Conservation programme
While the islands have retained their natural character, they have also suffered major changes through introduced pests and weeds. Goats were released on Raoul and Macauley as emergency food for shipwrecked sailors. Cats and rats were introduced on Raoul, and rats on Macauley, which prevented the successful nesting by most seabirds.
Raoul Island with DOC field centre
Weeds also pose problems. Early European settlers introduced Mysore thorn (from Asia) to keep goats out of their gardens. This vigorous and thorny plant climbs over the native forest and forms a dense, smothering canopy. If not controlled, this and other exotic plants could destroy the natural character of the Raoul forest. The DOC weed control programme focuses on 14 weed species, including Mysore thorn, Madeira vine, Brazilian buttercup bush and black passionfruit.
Goats were eradicated by the New Zealand Forest Service by 1984. DOC removed cats and rats from Raoul in 2002 and undertook an operation to rid Macauley of kiore (Pacific rat) in 2006, the success of which has yet to be confirmed.
Forest and seabirds on Raoul are being monitored to see the effects of removing the cats and rats. Already there are signs of recovery. Kermadec parakeet has now returned to breed on Raoul, while a new sooty tern colony has re-established and is expanding. In 2007, three new colonies of black winged petrel and a colony of wedge-tailed shearwater were also found on the island. Small numbers of Kermadec petrel have also been seen to breed again on Raoul.
Historic and cultural heritage
Much is still unknown about the nature and significance of the history of human activity on the Kermadec Islands. It is clear, however, that Raoul Island was settled early by Polynesians and that it may hold important clues to understanding the Maori migration voyages from eastern Polynesia to Aotearoa and return. Early European voyagers also based activities, particularly whaling, on the islands, and much of their early eighteenth and nineteenth century contact with New Zealand flowed from this association.
Maori scholars have equated Te Rangitahua with the Kermadec archipelago and most obviously with Raoul Island. The Aotea and Kurahaupo canoes both visited Te Rangitahua on the way from Rarotonga to Aotearoa, New Zealand in the fourteenth century. The Kurahaupo was damaged on a reef there, and most of the crew transferred to the Aotea to travel on to Aotearoa. The Kurahaupo was repaired and eventually landed at Takapaukura (Tom Bowling Bay) in Northland.
Limited archaeological research carried out on the Kermadec Islands confirms that the islands were known and settled by Polynesians 600 years ago, and perhaps as early as 1000 years ago. Since that time, settlement appears to have been discontinuous, failing for want of resources, or due to volcanic activity or other reasons.
Evidence of the occasionally extensive ancient settlements remains, mainly on the northern coast of Raoul, at Low Flat, the Farm Terrace, and Coral Bay, although it is likely that the Denham Bay Caldera beachfront was also occupied in these times.
There is evidence of communities based on coastal fishing, and the harvesting of seabirds and marine mammals, active in producing tools and other artifacts from local basalt and obsidian.
The Kermadec Islands have a number of plants that are consistent with their transfer by voyagers from other parts of Polynesia. The kiore, that were present on Macauley Island, may also indicate Polynesian contact with that island.
Shipwreck on Raoul Island
From early to mid nineteenth century Raoul and Macauley islands were used extensively for provisioning by whaling vessels operating in the French Rock and Vasquez grounds near the Kermadec Islands. From 1836 onwards, there were a number of attempts to resettle Raoul, focused mainly on Denham Bay and, to a lesser extent, at Low Flat and the Terraces. The principal settlers of this period were Reed, Baker, Halstead, Covatt, Bell and Bacon, together with the Fruit and Produce Association settlement in 1936. A range of exotic plants and animals were introduced and areas cleared for pasture and cultivation.
The New Zealand Government annexed the Kermadecs in 1887. Provision depots for shipwrecked sailors were established on all the main islands in the southern Kermadecs in 1888. In 1934 most of Raoul Island and all of the other islands in the group were set aside as a flora and fauna reserve, later to become a nature reserve. The rest of Raoul (111ha) was set aside for a meteorological station on the island in 1938, when the last independent settlers left the island. In 1993, DOC acquired this block of land.
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Activities
Bird watching
Diving/snorkelling
Flora and fauna
Photography
Places to stay
There is no accommodation on the island.
Plan and prepare
All islands of the Kermadec group are part of a specially protected nature reserve and can only be visited with a landing permit from the Department of Conservation.
Raoul is the most robust of the islands, and visitor permits are available to those with a genuine interest in its natural and cultural history. The other islands are extremely fragile, and cannot withstand even low numbers of visitors. Permits to land are only given to people for work that will assist either the management or understanding of the island’s ecosystems.
For information, permits and research enquiries contact:
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