Browns Island (New Zealand)
Browns Island or Motukorea is a small New Zealand island, in the Hauraki Gulf north of Musick Point, one of the best preserved volcanoes in the Auckland volcanic field. The age of eruption is unknown. Due to centuries of cultivation, little native bush remains except on the north-eastern cliffs, leaving the volcanic landforms visible, it exhibits the landforms from three styles of eruption. The island consists of one main scoria cone with a deep crater, a small remnant arc of the tuff ring forming the cliffs in the northeast, the upper portions of lava flows; the area was dry land when the eruptions occurred, but much of the lava is now submerged beneath the sea. The history of Motukorea prior to European arrival is not well documented, while many of the sources available speculate as to the origins of Ngāti Tamaterā mana whenua and their right to sell the island in 1840, few dispute it. Phillips makes mention of the Tainui canoe stopping at the island after leaving Wakatiwai on the Firth of Thames, before proceeding to Rangitoto where she met up with the Arawa canoe.
In the intervening years, the general area came to be controlled by Ngāti Paoa and the lands to the west were controlled by Ngāti Whātua, but the island remained under the control of Ngāti Tamaterā. Opinion is divided as to why this may be, Phillips postulates that mana may have been vested in return for assistance in battle, whereas Monin regards the occupation and sale of Motukorea as evidence of more widespread penetration of the inner Gulf by numerous Hauraki iwi and hapu. Motukorea's location at the mouth of the Tamaki River was important as it controlled access up the river, as a result the Otahuhu and nearby Karetu portage through to the Manukau Harbour; the archaeological remains suggest Motukorea was intensively occupied in pre-European times, with people engaged in stone working industry, marine exploitation, gardening of the fertile volcanic soils, establishing open and defended settlements. Three pā sites have been identified by Simmons. ‘Archaic’ type artifacts found on the island include worked moa bone, one-piece fishhooks.
Exotic stone resources including chert, basalt and obsidian from both local gulf island sources and as far afield as Coromandel Peninsula and Great Barrier Island. The name Motukorea means "oystercatcher island". Starting from 1820, early European visitors included Richard Cruise, Samuel Marsden and John Butler, who both traded with Maori for produce. Dumont D’Urville visited the island in 1827 and reported it abandoned on account of the musket wars. Being abandoned by Ngāti Tamaterā and located a considerable distance from where they were based in Coromandel, Te Kanini of Ngāti Tamaterā and the sub-chiefs Katikati and Ngatai were willing to sell Motukorea when William Brown and Logan Campbell indicated a desire to buy the island on 22 May 1840. Brown and Campbell settled on the western side of the island from 13 August 1840, making it one of the earliest European settlements in the Auckland area, they built a raupo whare and ran pigs on the island, using it as a base from which they aspired to establish and supply the town of Auckland as soon as land was available on the isthmus.
Not long after Brown and Campbell had taken up residence on the island, Ngāti Whātua chief Āpihai Te Kawau gifted it to Captain Hobson in order to entice him to select Auckland as the new capital for the colony. A flagpole was to be erected on the summit and the island claimed for the Crown, but upon hearing what was transpiring and Campbell returned to their island and protested their right to occupy the island; the idea was abandoned, but Governor Hobson refused the application for a Crown grant made by Brown in August 1840. The official reason for the refusal was that Brown and Campbell's purchase was made after Sir George Gipps' 1840 proclamation forbidding direct land purchases from the Maori, it was not until Robert FitzRoy assumed the role of governor in 1843 that Brown and Campbell's fortunes changed. The grant was made on 22 October 1844. Campbell left the island in December 1840 to set up a trading business in the newly established settlement of Auckland, while Brown remained on the island until February the following year to manage the pig farm, to watch over their vested interest in the island.
In 1856 both men left the colony for Great Britain, appointing a resident manager in charge of their affairs. Campbell bought out Brown's share in their business, including Motukorea, in May 1873 for £40,000 when Brown refused to return from Britain to resume control of their affairs; this transaction was carried out via William Baker who appears to have acted as an intermediary, receiving Brown's share for two days while the transaction was being carried out. In 1877 Campbell proposed to transplant olive trees to Motukorea and 5000 seedlings were grown in a nursery on One Tree Hill for this purpose, but were never transplanted. Campbell sold the island to the Featherstone family in 1879, who built a larger house on the north-eastern side of the island which burnt down in 1915; the derelict house was still on the island until the 1960s. In 1906 the island was sold to the Alison family who operated the Devonport Steam Ferry Company, during their ownership the hulks of 4 coal powered low draught paddle steamers were abandoned on the low western end of the island.
Browns Island is significant in aviation history, with the Barnard brothers of Auckland carrying out what may have been New Zealand's first glider flights from the upper slopes of the cone in June 1909. In the 1920s the Devonport Steam Ferry Company brought picnickers to the island landing them on a substantial wooden wharf about 120 ft long on the north side of the island. A 1922 s
Auckland Region
The Auckland Region is one of the sixteen regions of New Zealand, named for the city of Auckland, the country's largest urban area. The region encompasses the Auckland metropolitan area, smaller towns, rural areas, the islands of the Hauraki Gulf. Containing 35 percent of the nation's residents, it has by far the largest population and economy of any region of New Zealand, but the second-smallest land area. On 1 November 2010, the Auckland Region became a unitary authority controlled by the Auckland Council, replacing the previous regional council and seven local councils. In the process, an area in its southeastern corner was transferred to the neighbouring Waikato Region; the name "Auckland Region" remains present in casual usage. On the mainland, the region extends from the mouth of the Kaipara Harbour in the north across the southern stretches of the Northland Peninsula, past the Waitakere Ranges and the isthmus of Auckland and across the low-lying land surrounding the Manukau Harbour; the region ends within a few kilometres of the mouth of the Waikato River.
It is bordered in the north by the Northland Region, in the south by the Waikato Region. It includes the islands of the Hauraki Gulf; the Hunua Ranges and the adjacent coastline along the Firth of Thames were part of the region until the Auckland Council was formed in late 2010, when they were transferred to the neighbouring Waikato Region. In land area it is smaller than unitary authorities except Nelson, its highest point is the summit of at 722 metres. Auckland Province Media related to Auckland Region at Wikimedia Commons Auckland Region travel guide from Wikivoyage Geographic data related to Auckland Region at OpenStreetMap
Terra (satellite)
Terra is a multi-national NASA scientific research satellite in a Sun-synchronous orbit around the Earth. It is the flagship of the Earth Observing System; the name "Terra" comes from the Latin word for Earth. A naming contest was held by NASA among U. S. high school students. The winning essay was submitted by Sasha Jones of Missouri; the identifier "AM-1" refers to its orbit. The satellite was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on December 18, 1999, aboard an Atlas IIAS vehicle and began collecting data on February 24, 2000, it was placed into a near-polar, sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 705 km, with a 10:30am descending node. Terra carries a payload of five remote sensors designed to monitor the state of Earth's environment and ongoing changes in its climate system: ASTER ASTER creates high-resolution images of clouds, ice and the land surface using 3 different sensor subsystems, they are the Shortwave Infrared. They cover 14 multi-spectral bands from visible to the thermal infrared.
The SWIR stopped working in 2008. ASTER was provided by Japan’s Ministry of Economy and Industry. CERES MISR MODIS MOPITT Data from the satellite helps scientists better understand the spread of pollution around the globe. Studies have used instruments on Terra to examine trends in global carbon monoxide and aerosol pollution; the data collected by Terra will become a new, 15-year global data set. After launch, operators observed that high energy protons like those found over the South Atlantic Anomaly or the poles could induce single-event upsets that would cause the Motor Drive Assembly Built-In Test Equipment to turn off the MDA; these false shut-downs occur 12-14 times a month and the operations team automated the recovery to reduce the impact of these shut-downs. Starting in 2007, increased thermal resistance in the SWIR cryocooler of the ASTER instrument caused the temperature to increase. By 2008, despite frequent attempts to recycle the cryocooler the data began to degrade and on January 12, 2009, ASTER managers declared the SWIR no longer functional due to anomalously high SWIR detector temperatures.
Data gathered after April 2008 was declared not usable. On October 13, 2009, Terra suffered a single battery cell failure anomaly and a battery heater control anomaly the result of a Micrometeoroid or Orbital Debris strike. In June and October 2008 the spacecraft was targeted by hackers who gained unauthorized access to its command and control systems, but did not issue any commands. Aqua Artificial structures visible from space Aura NASA Terra site
Northland Peninsula
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 peninsula stretches northwest for about 330 kilometres from the Auckland isthmus, reaching a maximum width of 85 kilometres. It has a convoluted coastline, with many smaller peninsulas branching off it; the last 100 kilometres of its length is the Aupouri Peninsula – a peninsula on a peninsula – narrowing to only some 10 kilometres in width. At its northern end, the Aupouri Peninsula includes a number of capes: Cape Maria van Diemen, Cape Reinga, North Cape, the Surville Cliffs, the northernmost point, at latitude 34° 23' 47" South.
The Kaipara Harbour part way up the peninsula's western shore is one of the largest harbours in the world, stretching some 65 kilometres from north to south. Further north is the smaller Hokianga harbour, of historic and cultural significance to the Māori people. Another significant site is Waitangi and the surrounding Bay of Islands; this was a major settlement in early colonial New Zealand, was the site of the first signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, seen as the founding document of New Zealand's nationhood. The largest settlement on the peninsula is Whangarei, on a harbour opening on the Pacific Ocean close to the peninsula's widest point. Auckland Region Northland Region
Auckland
Auckland is a city in the North Island of New Zealand. Auckland is the largest urban area in the country, with an urban population of around 1,628,900, it is located in the Auckland Region—the area governed by Auckland Council—which includes outlying rural areas and the islands of the Hauraki Gulf, resulting in a total population of 1,695,900. A diverse and multicultural city, Auckland is home to the largest Polynesian population in the world; the Māori-language name for Auckland is Tāmaki or Tāmaki-makau-rau, meaning "Tāmaki with a hundred lovers", in reference to the desirability of its fertile land at the hub of waterways in all directions. The Auckland urban area ranges to Waiwera in the north, Kumeu in the north-west, Runciman in the south. Auckland lies between the Hauraki Gulf of the Pacific Ocean to the east, the low Hunua Ranges to the south-east, the Manukau Harbour to the south-west, the Waitakere Ranges and smaller ranges to the west and north-west; the surrounding hills are covered in rainforest and the landscape is dotted with dozens of dormant volcanic cones.
The central part of the urban area occupies a narrow isthmus between the Manukau Harbour on the Tasman Sea and the Waitematā Harbour on the Pacific Ocean. Auckland is one of the few cities in the world to have a harbour on each of two separate major bodies of water; the isthmus on which Auckland resides was first settled around 1350 and was valued for its rich and fertile land. The Māori population in the area is estimated to have peaked at 20,000 before the arrival of Europeans. After a British colony was established in 1840, William Hobson Lieutenant-Governor of New Zealand, chose the area as his new capital, he named the area for Earl of Auckland, British First Lord of the Admiralty. It was replaced as the capital in 1865 by Wellington, but immigration to Auckland stayed strong, it has remained the country's most populous city. Today, Auckland's central business district is the major financial centre of New Zealand. Auckland is classified as a Beta + World City because of its importance in commerce, the arts, education.
The University of Auckland, established in 1883, is the largest university in New Zealand. Landmarks such as the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, the Harbour Bridge, the Sky Tower, many museums, parks and theatres are among the city's significant tourist attractions. Auckland Airport handles around one million international passengers a month. Despite being one of the most expensive cities in the world, Auckland is ranked third on the 2016 Mercer Quality of Living Survey, making it one of the most liveable cities; the isthmus was settled by Māori circa 1350, was valued for its rich and fertile land. Many pā were created on the volcanic peaks; the Māori population in the area is estimated to have been about 20,000 before the arrival of Europeans. The introduction of firearms at the end of the eighteenth century, which began in Northland, upset the balance of power and led to devastating intertribal warfare beginning in 1807, causing iwi who lacked the new weapons to seek refuge in areas less exposed to coastal raids.
As a result, the region had low numbers of Māori when European settlement of New Zealand began. On 27 January 1832, Joseph Brooks Weller, eldest of the Weller brothers of Otago and Sydney, bought land including the site of the modern city of Auckland, the North Shore, part of Rodney District for "one large cask of powder" from "Cohi Rangatira". After the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in February 1840, the new Governor of New Zealand, William Hobson, chose the area as his new capital and named it for George Eden, Earl of Auckland Viceroy of India; the land that Auckland was established on was given to the Governor by a local iwi, Ngāti Whātua, as a sign of goodwill and in the hope that the building of a city would attract commercial and political opportunities for iwi. Auckland was declared New Zealand's capital in 1841, the transfer of the administration from Russell in the Bay of Islands was completed in 1842; however in 1840 Port Nicholson was seen as a better choice for an administrative capital because of its proximity to the South Island, Wellington became the capital in 1865.
After losing its status as capital, Auckland remained the principal city of the Auckland Province until the provincial system was abolished in 1876. In response to the ongoing rebellion by Hone Heke in the mid-1840s, the government encouraged retired but fit British soldiers and their families to migrate to Auckland to form a defence line around the port settlement as garrison soldiers. By the time the first Fencibles arrived in 1848, the rebels in the north had been defeated. Outlying defensive towns were constructed to the south, stretching in a line from the port village of Onehunga in the west to Howick in the east; each of the four settlements had about 800 settlers. In the early 1860s, Auckland became a base against the Māori King Movement, the 12,000 Imperial soldiers stationed there led to a strong boost to local commerce. This, continued road building towards the south into the Waikato, enabled Pākehā influence to spread from Auckland; the city's population grew rapidly, from 1,500 in 1841 to 3,635 in 1845 to 12,423 by 1864.
The growth occurred to other mercantile-dominated cities around the port and with problems of overcrowding and pollution. Auckland's population of ex-soldiers was far greater than that of other settlements: about 50 percent of the popula
North Island
The North Island officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island's area is 113,729 square kilometres, it has a population of 3,749,200. Twelve main urban areas are in the North Island. From north to south, they are Whangarei, Hamilton, Rotorua, New Plymouth, Hastings, Palmerston North, Wellington, the capital, located at the south-west extremity of the island. About 77% of New Zealand's population lives in the North Island. Although the island has been known as the North Island for many years, in 2009 the New Zealand Geographic Board found that, along with the South Island, the North Island had no official name. After a public consultation, the board named the island North Island or Te Ika-a-Maui in October 2013. In prose, the two main islands of New Zealand are called the North Island and the South Island, with the definite articles, it is normal to use the preposition in rather than on, for example "Hamilton is in the North Island", "my mother lives in the North Island".
Maps, headings and adjectival expressions use North Island without the. According to Māori mythology, the North and South Islands of New Zealand arose through the actions of the demigod Māui. Māui and his brothers were fishing from their canoe when he caught a great fish and pulled it from the sea. While he was not looking his brothers fought over the fish and chopped it up; this great fish became the North Island and thus a Māori name for the North Island is Te Ika-a-Māui. The mountains and valleys are believed to have been formed as a result of Māui's brothers' hacking at the fish; until the early 20th Century, an alternative Māori name for the North Island was Aotearoa. In present usage, Aotearoa is a collective Māori name for New Zealand as a whole; the sub-national GDP of the North Island was estimated at US$102.863 billion in 2003, 79% of New Zealand's national GDP. The North Island is divided into two ecoregions within the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome, the northern part being the Northland temperate kauri forest, the southern part being the North Island temperate forests.
The island has an extensive flora and bird population, with numerous National Parks and other protected areas. Nine local government regions cover the North Island and all its adjacent islands and territorial waters. Northland Auckland Waikato Bay of Plenty Gisborne Taranaki Manawatu-Wanganui Hawkes Bay Wellington The North Island has a larger population than the South Island, with the country's largest city and the capital, accounting for nearly half of it. There are 28 urban areas in the North Island with a population of 10,000 or more: Healthcare in the North Island is provided by fifteen District Health Boards. Organised around geographical areas of varying population sizes, they are not coterminous with the Local Government Regions. Bay of Islands Bay of Plenty Hauraki Gulf Hawke Bay Ninety Mile Beach North Taranaki Bight South Taranaki Bight Lake Taupo Waikato River Whanganui River Coromandel Peninsula Northland Peninsula Cape Palliser Cape Reinga East Cape North Cape Egmont National Park Tongariro National Park Waipoua Kauri Forest Whanganui National Park and many forest parks of New Zealand Mount Ruapehu Mount Taranaki Volcanic Plateau Waitomo Caves Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu List of islands of New Zealand Media related to North Island, New Zealand at Wikimedia Commons North Island travel guide from Wikivoyage
Rakino Island
Rakino Island is one of the many islands in the Hauraki Gulf, an arm of the Pacific Ocean to the northeast of Auckland, New Zealand. Rakino is a small island north-east of Motutapu Island; the island is 2.4 km long and about 1.2 km wide and has an area of 1.5 km2. The two most popular bays have public access, but three others have access from the sea. There are smaller beaches without public access; the public wharf is at the south end of Sandy Bay, a barge access ramp is at the western end of Sanford Way in Home Bay. The hilly topography comprises a fertile layer of volcanic topsoil from Rangitoto Island that overlays a thick mantle of clay soil which in turn overlays greywacke rock; the island is in pasture with pockets of coastal pohutukawa. There are around 76 dwellings on Rakino Island though the permanent population is only 21 as of 2019. Rakino, with its few permanent residents and its small size, with a limited public ferry service, has little attraction for commuters. Residents welcome its privacy.
Sir George Grey, governor of New Zealand, bought Rakino in 1862. He ordered trees and started building a house in Home Bay but he lost interest when Kawau Island became available. During the 1860s the prisoners from the Waikato Wars were brought to Auckland, some were housed in hulks at anchor in the harbour and a small party was settled at Rakino, where a house and gardening supplies were provided; the experiment was a failure and soon abandoned. There is an entry in the Appendices to the House of Representatives Journal which says "Ihaka did not thrive much on the island, died there, it is presumed of homesickness and a broken heart." In 1874 Albert Sanford leased the island from Sir George Grey before buying it. He and his family lived there for nearly 80 years, he was one of the founders of the Auckland commercial fishing fleet. His company started on Rakino Island in 1881, he sold fish on the wharves at the bottom of Queen St. “Sanford Limited” was incorporated in 1904. The family home he built still stands in Home Bay.
It was built of kauri logs rafted from Mercury Bay on the Coromandel Peninsula. In 1963, the island was bought by Dr Maxwell Rickard, president of the UPO, with the aim of setting up a philanthropic community. Rickard was a clinical psychologist and hypnotherapist and owned an Auckland nightclub and toured as a professional hypnotherapist under the name "The Great Ricardo". Plans for the island included a clinic for disturbed and nervous patients, an international orphanage, a refuge for unmarried mothers and homes for the elderly. However, these plans did not eventuate and the island was subdivided in 1965 into 25 blocks of 10 acres and 125 smaller pieces of land which sold for between £2500 and £6000. Communication on the island was a problem, so the world's first solar-powered telephone was installed. While widespread use of mobile phones has reduced reliance on land lines, the phone is still in use and local calling to Auckland is free. List of islands of New Zealand New Zealand outlying islands Rakino Ratepayers Association Official Blog rakinoisland.org
