The Chatham Islands

The Chatham Islands (Moriori: Rekohu; Maori: Wharekauri) are a group of islands belonging to New Zealand and are located about 800 kilometers east of the main islands in the South Pacific. Because of its location near the eastern time border, the Chathams have adopted the slogan “First to see the sun rise”. The remote archipelago moved briefly into the spotlight of international attention when, in 2000, it was the site of a special millennium celebration.

Administratively, the islands are part of New Zealand, but any region or district constitutes a special self-governing territorial authority held by the Chatham Islands Council.

From a European perspective the islands were discovered on November 29, 1791 by Lieutenant William Robert Broughton, who gave them the name of his ship, HMS Chatham. The original settlement, however, goes back to the years ranging from 800 to 1000. The islands are the original home of the now extinct Moriori – a Polynesian people with common roots to the Maori.

The Chatham Islands are now the only permanently inhabited islands of the New Zealand Outlying Islands.

In the mid-nineteenth century the Hamburg ship-owner Karl Sieveking made an attempt at a German colonization in the person of Edward G. Wakefield. After completion of a provisional sales contract with the New Zealand Company in 1841, Wakefield reached the islands in 1843 with an exclusively male group of settlers, mostly Lutheran missionaries. Three years later, a group of women followed. The establishment of a permanent German Antipodes colony is a failure.

Population
The archipelago has a population of slightly over 600 inhabitants – 57% of whom are Polynesian in origin. But only the two larger islands, Chatham (564 inhabitants) and Pitt (45 inhabitants) are inhabited. The capital is at Waitangi Petre Bay on Chatham Island, with about 200 residents. The other eight islands are relatively small.

The main occupations are agriculture, sheep farming, fishing and lobster breeding. In addition, there are about 5,000 visitors a year.

Geography
The Chatham Islands are of volcanic origin, and constructed largely of tuff and basalt. They are spread throughout a forty kilometer radius, covering a total area of 966 square kilometers.

The Chatham Island group includes ten islands:

Chatham Island (Rekohu)
Pitt Island (Rangiauria)
Southeast Island (Rangatira)
Mangere Island
Little Mangere
Star Keys (Motuhope)
The Sisters (Rangitatahi)
The Forty Fours (Motuhara)
The Pyramid
The Castle

All the islands, reefs and surrounding rocks are part of a subterranean mountain range called the Chatham-back.

Although the group of islands is located east of the 180th Meridian, it is west of the International Date Line. Consequently, the Chatham Islands are in a separate time zone (CHADT – Chatham Island Daylight Time) operating at forty-five minutes before the time in New Zealand.

Climate
The maritime climate has moderate temperatures and it is, on average, 18°C in summer and 9°C in winter. It is usually windy, cloudy and rainy.

Wildlife (fauna)
In particular, the small uninhabited islands of the archipelago are known for their rich birdlife, with a total of eighteen endemic species.

The black robin (Petroica traversi) there is one of the world’s rarest bird species. The population has recovered from a minimum of seven specimens back to a current (2004) 150 copies. The Chatham plover (Thinornis novaeseelandiae) breeds only on Mangere and South East Island. The magenta petrel (Pterodroma magenta) formed part of the food source for the Moriori. Its head count has also recovered in recent times.

Chatham was also home to several endemic species of birds that are now extinct. As in many New Zealand offshore islands, rats and rabbits threaten any introduction of native wildlife.