Mana Island (New Zealand)
| Mana Island | ||
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| Waters | Tasman Sea / Pacific | |
| Geographical location | 41 ° 5 '24 " S , 174 ° 46' 52" O | |
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| length | 2.5 km | |
| width | 1.4 km | |
| surface | 2.17 km² | |
| Highest elevation | 121 m | |
| Residents | uninhabited | |
Mana Island is an island in the Wellington region off the coast of New Zealand's North Island . It lies in the Tasman Sea . To the east is the city of Porirua , to the north the access to the natural harbor Porirua Harbor . The term "Mana" is an abbreviation of the Morian "Te Mana O Kupe ki Aotearoa", which honors the mythical Polynesian explorer of New Zealand, Kupe .
It is about 3 km long, up to 1.4 km wide and 2.17 km² in size. The appearance of the island is characterized by a plateau that takes up most of the interior of the island. Most of the coast consists of rocky cliffs. The highest point on the island is 121 m high. The island is 2.5 km away from the mainland.
The island is a bird sanctuary and can be reached by boat. The island became famous for the "loneliest sea bird in the world", an Australian booby named " Nigel ".
lighthouse
In 1856, the Marine Board planned a lighthouse on The Brothers , but found no safe access to the islands even in calm weather, so they decided to build a tower on the north side of Mana Island. At the time of commissioning, the tower was the only one in the Cook Strait area, alongside those at Pencarrow Head and Nelson . The tower on the Brothers Islands wasn't built until 1877.
The tower was designed and built by the London company Simpson and Co. The cast iron structure, beacon and lens were shipped from Pimlico in London in March 1864 . After the tower was assembled for 5,513 pounds, it went into operation on February 1, 1865.
Since it was suspected that the beacon was confused with the Pencarrow Head lighthouse at the entrance to Wellington Harbor and this led to the loss of the ships City of Newcastle and Cyrus in 1870 , a new tower was built on the Brothers Islands in 1876 and in September 1877 put into operation. The lighthouse on Mana Island was decommissioned on September 24, 1877 and dismantled in 1881 and transported to Cape Egmont with the Hinimoa tender . The sections of the 90 ton tower were brought ashore in boats and dragged to the assembly site with ox carts.
Only the brick foundation of the tower and the perimeter of the lighthouse keeper's garden remain on Mana Island.
Web links
- Mana Island Scientific Reserve - History . Department of Conservation ,accessed August 28, 2014.
- newzealandlighthouses.com
Individual evidence
- ^ Rodent Invasion Project - Mana . Department of Statistics, University of Auckland , archived from the original on February 19, 2013 ; accessed on January 17, 2016 (English, original website no longer available).