Mokohinau - Burgess Island

The Mokohinau Islands are to the south of the marine reserve Poor Knights Islands, and a bit easier to visit, with excellent fishing, bird watching and diving opportunities. The lighthouse here has an interesting history and possibly even scored an unfortunate own goal during World War Two. Though these islands look bare, they are rich with birdlife, and their history rich with tales of tin and gold.

Managed by the Department of Conservation, the island group are designated as a 'recovering seabird' environment, and public access is available on the largest, 50 hectare Burgess. The others are named Fanal, Flax and Trig. Though the Islands never had permanent Tangata Whenua, the Ngati Wai have always collected muttonbird here, and still do.

The historical Mokohinau lighthouse is major structure on Burgess, and it is in the north eastern corner. Erected in 1883, it is a concrete tower of considerable height,

Lighthouse keepers did not like it here. This, of course, can be reported of many of the remote stations around New Zealand, but in this case complaints can be viewed as more than justified by the fact that supplies only arrived three times a year. The rest of the time there was a lot of hunger, lonliness and dissatisfaction. A true story with evidence survives, that the keeper, in 1908, was so frustrated with the lack of food, that he created a tiny boat from tincans, with a tin sail too, waited until time and tide suited, and sent it toward Auckland with three letters on board. One asked the general store for food, the second was to the Maritime department, and the third was a letter to a friend. Nine days later his shipment arrived. The tin boat, named the 'smallest mail boat in the world' is in the Auckland Museum.

When the steamer Niagra sank near Mokohinau in June 1940, it was supposed that the mines which had been set in the area were laid by a German Destroyer with the help of the light from Mokohinau, which was immediately extinguished. New Zealand waited until the war had been over for a full two years before it was lit up again. The mine-laying suspect was the Orion, which was disguised as a Merchant ship and engaged in various other aggressive activities in the Tasman and the Pacific, including the sinking of the SS Turakina. As for the Niagra, it was on it's usual route Auckland/Suva/Vancouver, carrying it's usual cargo, but also a huge secret cargo of gold, worth NZ 2.5 million pounds, and some small arms. All 349 on board survived but the ship's cat, named Aussie, was lost. The gold was retrieved in 1941, but the oil on board has long posed an environmental hazard, which was under urgent investigation in 2017.

Because there are no safe anchorages around Burgess, one must choose a pest-free-warrant-holder-transport-operator to get there, and book accommodation in the hut on the island, which is in itself a glorious little feat of architecture and heritage as it is built like a tent and used to serve as the lighthouse keepers home. There are no landing fees on the island but a permit is required for an overnight stay.

Rats were eradicated from here in 1990, and the benefits to the seabird population are immense, with increasing colonies of Sooty shearwaters, grey petrels, black winged peterels, white faced storm petrels, grey ternlets and red billed gulls. For this reason dogs are not permitted on Burgess, and pest-free island rules apply.

Alongside the seabirds, red crowned parakeets and bellbirds delight the visitors in volumes not seen elsewhere and there are several species of lizard to be found, including the Suter’s skink, which is New Zealand's only egg laying skink. If you are here to fish, the area is reported to have massive Striped Marlin and giant Yellowtail Kingfish, and no one goes away hungry. For divers, it is said that most of the underwater life you can see in the Poor Knights is also in abundance in the Mokohinau area.

This Te Papa Blog provides an account of a visit to the island with DOC.