Mana Island seen from Porirua Mana Island is the smaller of two islands that lie off the southwest coast of the North Island of New Zealand (the larger is Kapiti Island). The islands name is an abbreviation of Te Mana o Kupe "The mana of Kupe"
Mana Island is a three-kilometre long 2.17 square kilometre table, with cliffs covering much of its coast and a plateau occupying much of the centre. It lies three kilometres off the North island coast in the Tasman Sea, level with the city of Porirua and to the south of the entrance to Porirua Harbour.
Mana was occupied by Maori since the 14th century. In the early 1820s, the Ngati Toa iwi, led by Te Rauparaha established bases on Mana.
European occupation began 1830s with a whaling station and bush was cleared for an early sheep farm. A lighthouse was built to the north in 1863, but shipwrecks were caused due to confusion between this light and Pencarrow light at the netrance to Port Nicholson, and the Mana Lighthouse was pulled down in 1877.
Mana Island became Crown property in 1865, and continued as a farmin site until the 1960s. The New Zealand Department of Conservation then took over the site and started to restore its forests. The island is now a nature and scientific reserve with many native species considered rare on the mainland.
External links
Department of Conservation Mana island page (http://www.doc.govt.nz/Explore/001~Other-Places/008~Wellington/Mana-Island-Scientific-Reserve/index.asp)
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