History of Great Barrier Island

Great Barrier Island History
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Great Barrier Island has a diverse history dating back some 700 years to the first colonisation by people from East Polynesia. (A survey of Kaikoura Island includes information on Maori and European settlement of this small island situated on the western coast of Great Barrier Island). In the 1800's European arrived and their activities on the island included; the mining of copper at Miners Head, silver and gold mining at Okupu and Whangaparapara. Kauri was logged for many years and a restored kauri dam is still standing on the Kaiaraara track to Mt Hirakimata (Mt Hobson). Farming was innovative and included cattle, sheep, goats, deer, bees and of course marine farming. Commercial whaling occurred in the nineteenth century and again during the 1950's. Many ships were built on the island including the barque Stirlingshire. Great Barrier Island has also been the location of more than 30 shipwrecks, the best known being the SS Wairarapa.
>Flight of the Albatross Movie 1996 World Premiere on Great Barrier Island >North Barrier Library at Port FitzRoy >Karaka Bay Graveyard Compiled by Margaret Peacocke, a great-great-grand-daughter of Edward & Annie Paddison. >The Paddison Family >The Sanderson Family >The Le Roy Family >The Cooper Family >Living at Buschs' Beach, Kaiaraara Bay >The Malcolm's Lonely Life on Great Barrier Island Part of a printed booklet of 1904 “My Own Story” in which Emile Monson Malcolm describes the sixteen years the family spent on the island from 1854. >A Pastoral Visit to the Great Barrier Island from the Journal of the Rev. A. Baker, M.A. (Church Gazette.) March 1881 >The Great Barrier Island by A. E. Le Roy Published in the ‘Journal of the Auckland-Waikato’ Issue No. 32 April 1978 >Girlie Leroy >Alethea Major (nee Lamond) Click Here for more historical information on Great Barrier Island by Don Armitage	>Fishing Tales by Fred Medland. Fishing on Great Barrier Island from the 1930's. "On one fishing trip perhaps 1944/1945 I caught a monstrous kingfish." >Kaiaraara Kauri Dam Three dams were erected from the kauri logs, built across the headwaters of the Kaiaraara Stream, directly below Mt Hirakimata. >NZ's First Airmail Service - the Great Barrier Island Pigeongram Stamps and blank stamped flimsies available commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the wreck of the S.S. Wairarapa issued by Great Barrier Pigeon Gram Co. >Painting of Kaiaraara & Mt Hirakimata (Hobson) by George Frederic Allen >SS Wairarapa Shipwreck >Orama Christian Community at Karaka Bay >Dion (Stud) Stellin and Barrier Gold >Don Woodcock - A Reflection: My time on Great Barrier >Flying to Great Barrier with Freddie Ladd in 1971 >Stepping Back in Time on Great Barrier Island by Jim Eagles September 2004 Historical images not related to articles. Contact all contributions gratefully received.