Editing Arapaoa Island (section)

==History==
According to [[Māori mythology|Māori oral tradition]], the island was where the great navigator [[Kupe]] killed the octopus [[Te Wheke-a-Muturangi]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.theprow.org.nz/maori/geographic-names-tetauihu/ |title=New and altered geographic names of Te Tau Ihu |year=2014 |website=theprow.org.nz |access-date=7 November 2015}}</ref>

It was from a hill on Arapaoa Island in 1770 that Captain [[James Cook]] first saw the sea passage from the [[Pacific Ocean]] to the [[Tasman Sea]], and confirmed that what the indigenous people had told him was correct – [[Aotearoa]] is composed of two main islands.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gerard |first=Stephen |title=Strait of Adventure |publisher=[[A.H. & A.W. Reed]] |year=1938 |isbn= |edition=First |location=[[Wellington]] |pages=50 |id=Library Assigned ID AAZ-4784; Government Document Classification Numbers 00031477 00 00263798 00}}</ref> Cook is not known for naming places after himself, and it is speculated that [[Joseph Banks]] bestowed the name [[Cook Strait]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cook Strait {{!}} Toitū Te Whenua – Land Information New Zealand |url=https://www.linz.govt.nz/our-work/new-zealand-geographic-board/place-name-stories/place-names-cooks-voyages/cook-strait |access-date=1 December 2023 |website=www.linz.govt.nz |language=en}}</ref> This discovery banished the fond notion of geographers that there existed a great southern continent, [[Terra Australis]]. A monument at Cook's Lookout was erected in 1970.

From the late 1820s until the mid-1960s, Arapaoa Island was a base for [[whaling]] in the Sounds. [[John Guard]] established a shore station at Te Awaiti in 1827, however initially could only salvage [[baleen]] until the station was equipped to process [[whale oil]] from 1830 onwards, targeting [[right whales]].<ref>{{Cite Q|Q58677530}}</ref> Later, the station at Perano Head on the east coast of the island was used to hunt [[humpback whales]] from 1911 to 1964 (see [[Whaling in New Zealand]]). The houses built by the Perano family are now operated as tourist accommodation. In the 2000s the former whalers from the Perano and Heberley families, who live on Arapawa, joined a [[Department of Conservation (New Zealand)|Department of Conservation]] whale spotting programme to assess how the humpback whale population has recovered since the end of whaling.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Johnston|first=Kirsty|date=26 July 2011|title=Killers to conservationists|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/whale-survey/5308931/Killers-to-conservationists|url-status=live|access-date=15 May 2021|website=Stuff|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515233356/https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/whale-survey/5308931/Killers-to-conservationists |archive-date=15 May 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Angeloni|first=Alice|date=12 January 2020|title=Whaling: The rise and fall of New Zealand's oldest, most ruthless industry|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/117728125/whaling-rise-and-fall-of-new-zealands-oldest-most-ruthless-industry|url-status=live|access-date=15 May 2021|website=Stuff|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200112182208/https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/117728125/whaling-rise-and-fall-of-new-zealands-oldest-most-ruthless-industry |archive-date=12 January 2020 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Interview with Joe (Joseph) Heberley|url=https://tiaki.natlib.govt.nz/#details=ecatalogue.502107|url-status=live|access-date=15 May 2021|website=tiaki.natlib.govt.nz|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204000402/https://tiaki.natlib.govt.nz/ |archive-date=4 February 2016 }}</ref>

An Air Albatross [[Cessna 402]] commuter aircraft struck the 11,000-volt power lines linking the island and the mainland over [[Tory Channel]] in 1985. The crash was witnessed by many passengers on an inter-island Cook Strait ferry. The ferry immediately stopped to dispatch a rescue lifeboat. Along with the two pilots, one entire family died, and all but a young girl from the other. No bodies were ever found. The sole survivor (Cindy Mosey) was travelling with her family and the other family from Nelson to Wellington to attend a gymnastics competition. The Arapaoa Island crash caused public confidence in Air Albatross to falter, contributing to the company going into liquidation in December of that year.{{cn|date=August 2024}}

In August 2014, the spelling of the island's name was officially changed from ''Arapawa'' to ''Arapaoa''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.linz.govt.nz/regulatory/place-names/recent-place-name-decisions-and-place-names-interest/nzgb-decisions-august |title=NZGB decisions |date=August 2014 |publisher=Land Information New Zealand |access-date=7 November 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151121203027/http://www.linz.govt.nz/regulatory/place-names/recent-place-name-decisions-and-place-names-interest/nzgb-decisions-august |archive-date=21 November 2015 }}</ref>