ORIENTATION

AUCkland ISLANDs

The Aucklands are a cluster of five islands (two large and three small), lying approximately 465 km south-southwest of New Zealand.  The largest, Auckland Island, covers approximately 500 square kilometers.  The climate is cold, humid, and windy year-round, with an average temperature of 3 to 12 °C, and consistent rain.

The islands were first discovered by an English sealer named Abraham Bristow in 1806.  Over the following decades, sealers were, for the most part, the only humans to stop at the Auckland Islands, and over this period they hunted the seal population there to near-extinction, just as they did on Macquarie Island.

In the mid-1800s, there were several attempts to build permanent settlements in the Auckland Islands, most notably by the French in 1849, but all of these colonies quickly failed as a result of the miserable climate and lack of food.  The strong winds, stormy weather, and poorly charted reefs around the islands also made them extremely dangerous for passing ships, and many shipwrecks occurred through the 19th and 20th centuries.  In the late 1800s, in response to the numerous wrecks and the harsh conditions on the Aucklands, he New Zealand government established supply depots throughout the islands to allow the survival of shipwrecked

The east coast of Auckland Island

Kelp on Enderby Island

sailors until rescue.  These depots were stocked with food, medical supplies, clothing and blankets, tools, firearms, and maps.  The establishment and resupply of these depots in the subantarctic islands is considered a significant chapter in New Zealand’s maritime history, and undoubtedly saved the lives of countless sailors over these years.

In 1934, New Zealand established the Auckland Islands as a protected nature preserve, and today, they form one of New Zealand’s highly protected Subantarctic Islands World Heritage Sites, with access to them strictly controlled.  The group is managed by the New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC), which oversees the protection of native flora and fauna, scientific research and environmental / climatic monitoring, habitat restoration, and the eradication of invasive species.  In fact, several large-scale programs have been tested on the Auckland Islands to eradicate pigs, cats, and mice, which were introduced by early visitors and have collectively decimated native bird and plant species.