Mana Island

Mana Island is a DoC managed scientific reserve. Although it is close to the Wellington satellite city of Porirua, it is far enough away to used for conservation and science.

Human visitation may have occurred here as far back as 1300, but the first documented occupation was by Ngati Toa Rangatira, who came here from the Waikato in the 1820s. The island is registered as a historic place thanks to this occupation, which involved growing kumara and a few whare (houses). The Iwi were closely followed by Pakeha who set up a whaling station in 1830s. The 1860s lighthouse is no more but it's site, and various other archaeological and historic sites may be visited via walking tracks, including the woolshed from the island's days as a farm. Since 1987 conservation has been the main aim here.

Mana is a significant location for Cook Strait giant weta, McGregor’s skink and goldstripe gecko. Takahe, toutouwai/ North Island robin, korimako/bellbird, kakariki/yellowcrowned parakeet, rowi/Okarito brown kiwi, and popokotea/ whitehead, as well as three lizard species have been introduced. Other threatened species may be introduced to Mana as suitable habitats develop. A lone rat which arrived in 2011 by methods unknown totally razed the colony of shore plover which had been expanding until then. Now there are none.

The NZ Geographer tells of thesignificant activitywhich takes place after dark.

The society 'Friends of Mana Island' run regular tours of the island, and this is the best way to visit. If you bring your own boat, the two boatramps are available, but there are no overnight stays and you must be extremely careful not to bring rodents and be gone by 5pm.

The occasional mad kiwi has swum the 5km there and back, and one man became famous in 2007 for being found near the island after surviving several days at sea off Mana. He was only trying to gather koura (crayfish) of which there are plenty, and paua, but check the rules and the weather to avoid trouble.

Image Credit: Titahi Bay, 1894, Wellington, by James Nairn. Bequest of Miss Ann Katherine Blackett, 1959. Te Papa and RANGIHAEATA'S PAH; WITH THE ISLAND of MANA AND THE OPPOSITE SHORES OF COOK'S STRAITS. SOON after the massacre of Wairau, Rangihaeata erected the stronghold opposite Mana, which is represented in the accompanying plate: it is guarded by enormous wooden posts, sunk very deep into the ground, and firmly lashed together by means of flax rope and aka. The approach to it from seaward is guarded by a reef of rocks running a long way out into the Straits. Above the pah is a wahi tapu, the view from which, looking across Taupo Pah, is given in a preceding plate. Beyond is seen the Island of Mana, or Table Island, at the southern side of which is a small pah belonging to Rangihaeata, where stands his celebrated carved house, called kai tangata, or "eat man" (Plate IV). The opposite shores of Cook's Straits are distinctly visible, with the rugged, and, in many places, snow-capped mountains of the Middle Island, marking the direction of Queen Charlotte's Sound. In the foreground are canoes belonging to Rauparaha, with the flax (Phormium) growing upon the grassy bank adjoining the beach. Mana is distant about five miles (sic) from the mainland, and has long been a celebrated resort of the shore whalers who frequent Cook's Straits. Angas, George French 1822-1886: The New Zealanders Illustrated. London, Thomas McLean, 1847. The New Zealanders Illustrated, 1847.