Editing Arapaoa Island

{{Short description|Island in Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=April 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox islands
| name             = Arapaoa Island
| local_name       =
| image_name       = Southern end of Arapawa Island.jpg
| image_caption    = Southern end of Arapaoa Island
| image_map        = NZ-Arapawa I.png
| image_map_caption = Arapaoa Island relative to the South Island
| map              = 
| coordinates = {{coord|-41.18951|174.30290|display=it}}
| map_caption      = 
| nickname         = 
| location         = [[Marlborough Sounds]]
| archipelago      =
| total_islands    =
| major_islands    =
| area_km2         = 75
| length_km        = 28
| width_km         = 4
| highest_mount    = Narawhia
| elevation_m      = 559.4
| population       = 50
| population_as_of =
| density_km2      =
| ethnic_groups    =
| country          = New Zealand
| country_admin_divisions_title = [[Regions of New Zealand|Region]]
| country_admin_divisions       = [[Marlborough District]]
| additional_info  =
}}

'''Arapaoa Island''' (formerly spelled '''Arapawa Island''') is the [[List of islands of New Zealand|second-largest island]] in the [[Marlborough Sounds]], at the north-east tip of the [[South Island]] of New Zealand. The island has a land area of {{convert|75|km²|sqmi|0|abbr=in}}. [[Queen Charlotte Sound / Tōtaranui|Queen Charlotte Sound]] defines its western side, while to the south lies [[Tory Channel]], which is on the sea route between [[Wellington]] in the [[North Island]] to [[Picton, New Zealand|Picton]]. [[Cook Strait]]'s narrowest point is between Arapaoa Island's Perano Head and [[Cape Terawhiti]] in the North Island.

==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>

==Conservation==
Parts of the island have been heavily cleared of native vegetation in the past through burning and logging, A number of pine forests were planted on the island.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Meurk|first=C. D|author2=Ward J.C. |author3=Jane G. |author4=Walls G.Y. |year=1999|title=Arapawa Island: flora and ecological notes |journal=Canterbury Botanical Society |issue=33 |pages=77–98 |url=http://bts.nzpcn.org.nz/bts_pdf/Cant_1999_33__77-98.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://bts.nzpcn.org.nz/bts_pdf/Cant_1999_33__77-98.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Wilding conifer|Wilding pines]], an [[invasive species]] in some parts of New Zealand, are being poisoned on the island to allow the regenerating native vegetation to grow. About {{convert|200|ha}} at Ruaomoko Point on the south-eastern portion of the island will be killed by drilling holes into the trees and injecting poison.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/news/6962568/Tree-poisoning-work-for-island|title=Tree poisoning work for island |last=Nicoll |first=Jared |date=22 June 2012|work=The Marlborough Express|access-date=24 February 2013}}</ref>

Arapaoa Island is known for the breeds of domestic animals found only on the island – the [[Arapawa pig]], [[Arapawa sheep]] and [[Arapawa goat]]. They became established in the 19th century, but the origin of the breeds is uncertain, and a matter of some speculation. Common suggestions are that they are old English breeds introduced by the early whalers, or by Captain Cook or other early explorers.  These breeds are now extinct in England, and the goats surviving in a sanctuary on the island are now also bred in other parts of New Zealand and in the northern hemisphere.

The small [[The Brothers (New Zealand)|Brothers Islands]], which lie off the northeast coast of Arapaoa Island, are a sanctuary for the rare [[Brothers Island tuatara]].

== See also ==
* [[List of islands of New Zealand]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
{{Commons category}}
* Philp, Matt. 2011. [https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/the-sound-of-the-sea/ The Sound of the Sea.] ''New Zealand Geographic,'' 110.
* Heberley, Heather. 1996. ''Weather permitting''. Whatamango Bay, N.Z. : Cape Catley. {{ISBN|0908561490}}
* Heberley, Heather. 1997. ''Flood tide.'' Whatamango Bay, N.Z. : Cape Catley. {{ISBN|090856161X}}

{{Marlborough Region|state=collapsed}}
{{Tōtaranui / Queen Charlotte Sound|state=collapsed}}

[[Category:Islands of the Marlborough Sounds]]
[[Category:Whaling stations in New Zealand]]
[[Category:Whaling in New Zealand]]
[[Category:Cook Strait Ferry]]
[[Category:Populated places in the Marlborough Sounds]]