Antipodes Islands

Geographical Information:

View Slideshow images

49º 41’S, 178º 48’E, in the South Pacific Ocean, 850 km south-east of New Zealand

Area:

2100 ha

Maximum Altitude:

402 m (Mt Galloway)

Physical Features:

Antipodes Islands ©

The group consists of the main Antipodes Island, with several off lying islets and rocks (principally Bollons Island, Archway Island, Windward Island and Leeward Island).

Antipodes Island is roughly triangular in shape 7km by 5 km with an area of 2025ha. Steep coastal cliffs occur up to 150 m high. The central undulating plateau has several volcanic cones, dissected by steep gullies.

The Islands are of volcanic origin, remnants of the upper portion of an extensive submerged volcanic pile. Composition is of basaltic lava with pyroclastic debris. Phosphate-rich peat soils occur.

Flora and Vegetation:

Antipodean Wandering Albatross

Predominant vegetation in coastal areas is tussock grassland of Poa litorosa, up to 1.5m high. Inland, the fern Polystichum vestitum is common. On higher sheltered slopes, and in gullies Coprosma cilata scrub occurs, with ferns Polystichum and Blechnum species and the herb Stilbocarpa polaris. Sheltered bogs of sedge carex ternaria with herbs Pleurophyllum criniferum and Anisotome antipoda occur. In the upper area mosses lycopodium spp and lichens stereocaulon spp are prominent.

Birding Highlights:

Erect-Crested Penguins

No landings are permitted here. If sea conditions are good and we can get in close with the zodiacs the highlight has to be the endemic Antipodes parakeet. There is also good chance of the erect crested penguin. 

Click here for a detailed Bird Checklist

Historical Features:

Originally named the Penantipodes because of its situation near the antipodes of London, the group was discovered in 1800 by Captain Waterhouse of H.M.S. Reliance. An American sealer under the command of Captain Pendleton was the first to station a sealing gang on the Antipodes, when the brig the Union of New York left an officer and 11 men there in 1804. On returning to Sydney the Union of New York sailed for Fiji and disaster, for the ship was lost and the entire crew massacred. The sealing gang was eventually rescued in 1805 after more than a year on the Antipodes. The gang had collected almost 60,000 skins. Other sealing gangs visited these Islands, but by the 1830's the seals were all but extinct and there was no further sealing.

In the early 1880's there was renewed interest in these Islands for the penguin skin trade. A large number of these skins were collected to meet a demand for fashionable ladies' muffs.

On September 4, 1893 (while on a passage from Rangoon to Talcaguano with a cargo of rice) the Spirit of Dawn was totally wrecked on a reef off the Antipodes Island. Five members of the crew, including the Captain, were drowned. The remaining eleven members of the crew made it into a life boat and were able to land on the Island. During their stay on the Island their only food consisted of mutton birds, mussels and roots. They had to eat these raw as they had no means of lighting a fire. They remained on the Island for 87 days without a fire, during which time they lived in a cave beneath an overhanging bluff.

They hoisted a flag above the cove on the highest point of the Island, which was eventually seen by the crew of the Government Steamer Hinemoa. The survivors had never found the Government depot which was four to five hours walk from their camp. This contained clothing and provisions which would have made their enforced stay a little more pleasant.

On March 13, 1908 the President Felix Faure was completely wrecked on the Antipodes Island. Her entire crew of 22 managed to reach the shore and were rescued by H.M.S. Pegasus in early May of the same year. The survivors found the Provisions Depot which had been established by the New Zealand Government. They lived on albatrosses, penguins and shellfish. At one stage they caught a calf, but the bull, cow and sheep which had been left for food by the Government had all died. It was a particularly cold sixty days,(with rain, hail and snow on all but four of them), that they had too endure before they were rescued.

Map:

Antipodes Islands ©

Further Reading:

• Chilton, C (Ed) The Sub Antarctic Islands of New Zealand Vol 1& 2 Philisophical Insitute of Canterbury, Wellington, 1909.
• Fraser, C  Beyond the Roaring Forties, Woolmore Printing Ltd, Auckland 1986.
• Higham, T (Ed) Sub Antarctic Islands  - A Guide Book, Craig Printing Co Ltd, Invercargill 1991.
• Thomas, M C  Forgotten Islands of the South Pacific - the Story of New Zealand's Sub Antarctic Islands by Rosaline Redwood. A H and A W Reed, Wellington.
• Taylor R Straight Through from London.  Heritage Expeditions, Christchurch. 2006.
• Shirihai Hadoram  A Complete Guide to Antarctic Wildlife.  Alula Press Oy,  Finland 2002.
• Dept of Conservation:  Subantarctic Islands Heritage. (Nomination of the New Zealand Subantarctic Islands by the Government of New Zealand for inclusion in the World Heritage List.   Wellington. 1997.

top