Open Bay Islands - Misplaced Pages

(Redirected from Davy Lowston) Island group in New Zealand

Open Bay Islands
Geography
Open Bay Islands
Location	Westland District
Coordinates	43°52′S 168°53′E / 43.867°S 168.883°E / -43.867; 168.883
Total islands	2
Highest elevation	30 m (100 ft)
Administration
New Zealand
Demographics
Population	(?)

The Open Bay Islands are located in South Westland, off the south-west coast of the South Island of New Zealand. They consist of two main islands, Taumaki and Popotai, plus several smaller islets and rocks. They lie approximately 5 km (3.1 mi) offshore from the Okuru River mouth, near Haast, and are owned by the West Coast branch Māori iwi Ngāi Tahu known as Poutini Ngāi Tahu.

Taumaki is the larger island (14.7 ha or 36 acres, 660 m or 722 yd long and 260 m or 284 yd wide reaching a plateau 21 m or 69 ft above sea level) and is separated from Popotai (2.2 ha or 5.4 acres, 400 m or 437 yd long and 200 m or 219 yd wide) by a narrow channel.

Wildlife

The Open Bay Islands support several endemic species, including a terrestrial leech (Hirudobdella antipodum), an undescribed gecko species (aff. Hoplodactylus granulatus), and a skink (Oligosoma taumakae). In 2010 the skink was discovered on the Barn Islands, two rock stacks near Haast, as well as a terrestrial leech likely to be Hirudobdella antipodum; the gecko, however, has only ever been recorded from Taumaki Island, and only 15 have been seen.

Taumaki Island has been identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International because it is a breeding site for Fiordland penguins. New Zealand fur seals currently numbering in the thousands have recolonized the islands following the end of commercial sealing. Hector's dolphins and bottlenose dolphins (occasional) are present at Jackson Bay, and migratory southern right and humpback whales are also present. Great white sharks have also been confirmed in the area.

Wekas

Although introduced mammals are not known ever to have reached the Open Bay Islands, the introduction of weka (a native flightless rail, Gallirallus australis) from the South Island in the early 1900s has had an adverse impact on the flora and fauna of the islands. The Department of Conservation have recommended to the Minister of Conservation that weka should be removed from the islands. The Trust which governs the island has agreed to removal on the condition that they are not killed.

Castaways

The sealer Active, brought a ten-man sealing gang from Sydney to the islands. The men had very basic provisions: some food, salt, an axe, an adze, and a cooper's drawing knife. The ship, which left the islands on 16 February 1810, was not seen again, and the sealing gang was assumed to have been lost with the ship. After years of considerable hardship, they finally saw a ship, the Governor Bligh, and attracted its attention. They were picked up and arrived back in Sydney on 15 December 1813.

The men's fate has been turned into a song, Davy Low'ston, that tells their ordeal.

References

^ Miller, Craig (September 1997). "Occurrence and ecology of the Open Bay Islands leech, Hirudobdella antipodium" (PDF). Science for Conservation. 57. Department of Conservation. ISSN 1173-2946.
^ Miller, Craig (December 1999). "Conservation of the Open Bay Islands' leech, Hirudobdella antipodum" (PDF). Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 29 (4): 301–306. Bibcode:1999JRSNZ..29..301M. doi:10.1080/03014223.1999.9517599. ISSN 1175-8899.
^ Lettink, M.; Hopkins, G.; Wilson, R.I. (2013). "A significant range extension and sanctuary for the rare Open Bay Island skink (Oligosoma taumakae)". New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 40 (2): 160–165. doi:10.1080/03014223.2012.707661. ISSN 0301-4223. S2CID 83837281.
Hitchmough, R., Bull, L. and Cromarty, P. (compilers) (2007) "New Zealand Threat Classification System lists— 2005", Dept of Conservation, Wellington.
Wilson, Kerry-Jayne (2013). West Coast Walking: a naturalist's guide. Christchurch: Canterbury University Press. p. 325. ISBN 9781927145425.
"Important Bird Area factsheet: Open Bay Islands". BirdLife International. 2024. Retrieved 2024-03-03.
Gilchrist, Shane (3 November 2014). "Up close to the coast". Otago Daily Times.
Baird, S.J. "New Zealand fur seals – summary of current knowledge" (PDF). www.docs.niwa.co.nz. Retrieved 2023-06-26.
"Sealions and furseals". www.ryanphotographic.com. Retrieved 2023-06-26.
"A seal colony on Taumaki Island, one of the Open Bay islands off the Haast River, West Coast | NZETC". www.nzetc.victoria.ac.nz.
"ArcGIS Web Application" (PDF).
"Marine Reserves Application for five sites in the West Coast Tai Poutini Conservancy, in the localities of Kahurangi, Punakaiki, Ōkārito, Ship Creek and Gorge" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-01-26. Retrieved 2016-03-14.
"West Coast Shark Catch Early 1990s". YouTube. 24 February 2014. Archived from the original on 2021-12-05.
Stirling, I. & Johns, P.M. (1969) "Notes on the bird fauna of Open Bay islands", Notornis 16(121-125).
Burrows, C.J. (1972) "The flora and vegetation of Open Bay Islands", Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand 2 (15-42).
Glass, Amy (23 July 2010). "Colony of inbred wekas may have a lucky escape". The Press. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
Fyfe, Frank (1970). "The story of David Lowston, a pre-colonial NZ song". Journal of New Zealand Folklore. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
Smith, Ian W.G. (June 2002). "The New Zealand Sealing Industry" (PDF). Department of Conservation. pp. 25, 32. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
McSaveney, Eileen (25 September 2011). "Nearshore islands". Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
Martin Carthy's version of Davy Low'ston on YouTube

External links

Recording of the sealers' song
Critters of Taumaka on the blog of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Birdlife of Taumaka on the blog of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

v t e Landforms of Westland District, New Zealand
Alpine passes	Arthur's Pass Browning Pass / Nōti Raureka Copland Pass Haast Pass
Bays	Bruce Bay Jackson Bay
Canyons, gorges and waterfalls	Fantail Falls Gates of Haast Hokitika Gorge Otira Gorge Roaring Billy Falls Thunder Creek Falls
Glaciers	Agassiz Glacier Douglas Glacier Fox Glacier Franz Josef Glacier Garden of Eden Ice Plateau Olivine Ice Plateau Volta Glacier
Headlands	Abut Head Awarua Point Gillespies Point Knights Point
Islands	Open Bay Islands
Lakes and lagoons	Abel Lake Alpine Lake / Ata Puai Lake Ellery Lake Gault Lake Ianthe Lake Kaniere Lake Mahinapua Lake Mapourika Lake Matheson Lake Moeraki Ōkārito Lagoon Lake Paringa Saltwater Lagoon Lake Wahapo
Mountain ranges	Butler Range Southern Alps
Mountains	Mount Adams Aoraki / Mount Cook Mount Aspiring / Tititea Mount Brewster Mount Dampier Mount Graham Mount Haast Mount Hopkins La Perouse Lendenfeld Peak Mount Rolleston Mount Sefton Silberhorn Mount Tasman Mount Vancouver Mount Whitcombe
River flats	Pleasant Flat
Rivers	Adams River Arahura River Arawhata River Balfour River Barlow River Barn River Bettne River Big Wainihinihi River Burke River Butler River Callery River Cascade River Clarke River Clearwater River Cook River / Weheka Copland River Cropp River Deception River Donald River Douglas River Drake River Duncan River Edison River Fork River Fox River Gorge River Gunn River Haast River Hacket River Hall River Hapuka River Harman River Hinatua River Hokitika River Hope River Jackson River Jerry River Kaniere River Karangarua River Kokatahi River Lambert River Landsborough River Lord River Macfarlane River Mahitahi River Jacobs River Manakaiaua River Maori River Martyr River Mikonui River Moeraki River Morse River Mueller River Mungo River Ngatau River North Barlow River Ohinemaka River Ōhinetamatea River Ōkārito River Okuru River Ōmoeroa River Oneone River Otehake River Ōtira River Ōtoko River Paringa River Perth River Poerua River Rolleston River Rotokino River Ruera River Ship Creek Smoothwater River Smyth River Spoon River Stafford River Strauchon River Styx River Taipo River Taramakau River Te Naihi River Te Rahotaiepa River Toaroha River Tōtara River Totarakaitorea River Troyte River Tuke River Turnbull River Waiatoto River Waiho River Waikūkūpa River Waipara River Waita River Waitaha River Waitangitāhuna River Waitangiroto River Wanganui River Whakaikai River Whakapohai River Whataroa River Whitcombe River Wilkinson River Willberg River Williamson River Wills River

43°52′S 168°53′E / 43.867°S 168.883°E / -43.867; 168.883

Categories:

Wildlife

Wekas

Castaways

See also

References

External links