Campbell Island

Geographical Information:

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52º 33’S, 169º 09’E, in the South Pacific Ocean, 700 km south of New Zealand

Area:

11 331 ha

Maximum Altitude:

567 m Mt Honey

Physical Features:

Perserverance Harbour

The group consists of Campbell Island, with a number of off lying islets and rocks (principally Jacquemart Island, Dent Island, and Isle de Jeanette Marie.

Campbell Island has an irregular shape, 16km by 16km, with an area 11 268 ha. Steep cliffs dominate the western shores, while the east coast is broken by several large inlets. Terrain is hilly, with deep gullies and numerous streams.

Campbell Island is a remnant of a dissected volcanic dome. Marine erosion has removed most of the western section, and the east coast has fiord-like inlets by the ‘drowning’ of the lower reaches of the radial valleys. The Island was glaciated in the Pleistocene. The oldest basement rocks are schist, 640 MYr, overlain with a series of standstone, conglomerate, mudstone, limestone, marine deposits of volcanic sediments and volcanic flows dating from the late Miocene. Peat soils are well developed.

Flora and Vegetation:

Pleurophyllum speciosum

Three vegetation types predominate on Campbell Island: tussock grassland, shrubland and herbfield. In coastal areas, moss Muuelleriella crassifolia is common, with the herbs Crassula moschata, Colobanthus muscoides and Scirpus cernuus. In sheltered areas and in deep gullies to an attitude of 180m 'dwarf forest’ of woody shrubs Dracophyllum longifolium and D. scoparium with specis of Coprosma and Myrsine and ferns Polystichum vestitum and Histiopteris incise occurs. Above this, vegetation is dominated by tussock grassland of Poa litorosa, with Chionochloa Antarctica in valleys, ferns and herbs Pleurophyllum speciosum, Bulbinella rossii and species of Anisotome.

Above 300 meters Bulbinella and the rush Marsippospermum gracile dominate an under turf of grasses, ferns, lichens and bryophytes. Areas of sphagnum bog, peat moors and cushion bog (dominated by Pleurophyllum, Bulbinella and Scirpus) also occur.

Birding Highlights:

Southern Royal Albatross ©

The Southern Royal Albatross on the tussock covered hills amongst the flowering mega herbs has to be a highlight as does the Campbell Island pipit and if you are fortunate the recent re-established flightless teal.

Click here for a detailed Bird Checklist

Historical Features:

Met Station

Campbell Island was discovered in January, 1810 by Captain Frederick Hasselborough of the sealing brig, Perseverance. Hasselborough named the island after his employers, Robert Campbell and Co. of Sydney. On a later visit that year Captain Hasselborough, along with a woman called Elizabeth Farr and a young boy George Allwright, were drowned when their jollyboat capsized in Perseverance Harbour. Jas Bloodworth pulled the body of Elizabeth Farr ashore, and she was probably buried in a cove at the head of the harbor.

When a new sealing ground was discovered, the find was usually kept secret. Once its whereabouts became known, the uncontrolled slaughter that followed quickly reduced seal numbers to an unprofitable level. Therefore, little is known of sealing visits to Campbell Island. Around this time sealing activity was declining in the Subantarctic, but the taking of skins continued spasmodically until about 1830. Efforts by the New Zealand government to conserve seals by patrolling closed seasons failed because of the remoteness of the island and the resourcefulness of the poachers.

After the initial sealing period, there followed a period of exploration into the region south of the 60th parallel. In 1838 Balleny in the Eliza Scott and Freeman in the Sabrina set out to explore the eastern sector of this region. They used the subantarctic islands as ‘stepping stones’ taking seal skins and oil to offset expenses and water and wood to prolong the voyage. They visited Campbell Island from January 10-17, 1839. On the first day Freeman found four people who had been left on the island 4 yeas earlier by a sealing ship. The extent to which the seal population had diminished is shown by the fact that this party had collected only 170 skins.

In the nineteenth century some exploratory expeditions were sponsored by governments frequently as a result of petitions of scientific and learned societies. The members of two such expeditions spent some time on Campbell Island.

The first of these was the British James Clark Ross expedition of 1840-42. The objective of this expedition was to identify whether or not the islands were once part of a main continent or whether they had been created by isolated uplift and volcanic events. Two scientists accompanying Ross, J Hooker and D Lyall, compiled the first plant and animal inventories for Campbell Island.

The second was sponsored by the government of France to observe the transit of Venus. In 1873 a preparatory expedition under Captain J Jacquemart (on board the frigate Vire) spent almost a month at the island. The ship returned with the main party (lead by A Bouquet de la Gyre) in 1874 and remained for three months. Although Venus was only glimpsed momentarily, just as it began to cross the sun, the other scientific findings of the party made the expedition a success. One member of this expedition, M Duris, died of typhoid fever on the island. He was buried on the point opposite Venus cove. An inscribed tombstone and iron cross were erected over the grave, which has now been relocated.

From 1868 to 1923, both British Navy and New Zealand government vessels made periodic visits to the island to service a castaway depot (at Depot Point, Perseverance Harbour), one of several erected on subantarctic islands.

Sheep, goats and pigs had been liberated at various times prior to 1895 with the intention of providing sustenance to the shipwrecked, but none of these animals survived for very long. Fires had been started occasionally by accident or by design and rats had been reported as well established on the main island by 1874. However, it was after 1895 that the large-scale modification of the vegetation was precipitated by the establishment of a farm on the island. Sheep were re-introduced in 1895 after the island (Pastoral Run No. 511) had been leased to J Gordon for a term of 21 years. In 1907, 10 scientists from the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury Subantarctic Islands Expedition spent 8 days on the island. They were the first scientific group to record the effect of sheep grazing on the vegetation.

Since the islands’ discovery in 1810, whalers were well aware of Campbell’s close proximity to routes used by whales making their annual winter migration to the north. The last of the shore whaling stations was located at North West Bay and operated from 1909 to 1916, in conjunction with management of the sheep run. The whalers’ tow boat was lost in 1913 after which few whales were caught.

The farming era lasted until 1931. The original and renewed leases had changed hands a number of times and an unreliable transport system, accidents and a world-wide recession finally made farming uneconomical. The farmers withdrew and left about 4000 sheep and between 20 to 30 cattle unattended on the island. In 1937 the second lease expired and was not renewed.

A wartime coast-watching station was established in 1941, 400 metres inland from Tucker Cove. When the coast-watching station was abandoned at the end of the war, radio meteorological activities continued at Tucker Cove. The station now occupies a new base at Beeman Cove, opened in November 958. This base was decommissioned in late 1994. The old base is derelict.

For some years after the abandonment of the farm, various people concerned about the island’s indigenous plants and animals, had called for the eradication of the sheep.

In January 1961, it was suggested that a dividing fence be erected and sheep removed from half the island. This would allow long-term comparisons of plant and animal populations.

In May 1969, Ecology Division, DSIR, made a firm proposal for the construction of a fence and this was approved on the recommendation of the Outlying Islands Reserves Committee. The cost of fencing materials was met by Ecology Division, and the fence was erected during the 1969/70 summer by a joint Wildlife Service, DSIR, and Department of Lands and survey expedition. The sheep on the northern side were removed. A further fence was constructed in 1980 which restricted a small population to the Menhir, Mount Paris region. These were finally removed in 1990. The cats died out naturally and in 2002 in a major poisoning operation the rats were removed.

Map:

A map of Campbell Island.© Heritage Travel Group