Stewart Island (Māori: Rakiura, lit. 'glowing skies', officially Stewart Island / Rakiura, formerly New Leinster) is the third-largest and southernmost inhabited island of New Zealand, lying 30 kilometres (16 nautical miles) south of the South Island, separated by Foveaux Strait. It is a roughly triangular island with a land area of 1,746 km2 (674 sq mi). Its 164-kilometre (102 mi) coastline is indented by Paterson Inlet (east), Port Pegasus (south), and Mason Bay (west). The island is generally hilly (rising to 980 metres or 3,220 feet at Mount Anglem) and densely forested. Almost all the island is owned by the New Zealand government, and over 80 percent of the island forms Rakiura National Park. Stewart Island's economy depends on fishing and summer tourism. Its permanent population was recorded at 486 people in the 2023 census. Most residents live in the settlement of Oban on the eastern side of the island. Ferries connect Oban to Bluff in the South Island. Stewart Island is part of the Southland District for local government purposes.
History and naming
Archaeology indicates that the island was settled in the 14th century, shortly after the Māori settled in the South Island. The original Māori name, Te Punga o Te Waka a Māui, means "The Anchor Stone of Māui’s Canoe". This refers to the legend of Māui and his crew, who from their canoe Te Waka a Māui (the South Island), caught and raised the great fish Te Ika a Māui, the North Island. The more common Māori name, Rakiura, is usually translated as "glowing skies" in reference to the aurora australis. For some, Rakiura is the abbreviated version of Te Rakiura a Te Rakitamau, translated as "great blush of Rakitamau", in reference to the latter's embarrassment when refused the hand in marriage of not one but two daughters of an island chief. James Cook saw the insularity of Stewart Island during his first Pacific Voyage in 1770. After five days of sailing south/clockwise around the island, Endeavour was at the western entrance of Foveaux Strait where the crew could see Ruapuke Island, which they had passed 5 days earlier, at the eastern entrance of the strait. Cook wrote: “they're appear’d an open Channel … we saw the small island we were in with on the 6th instant”. Zachary Hicks wrote: “this is ye Western opening of the Passage mentioned the 6 Ins.” Nonetheless, Cook knew that an offshore island was strategically valuable to Britain’s rivals and should be hidden as a matter of military policy. He tried to erase his description of Foveaux Strait from his journal and drew a revised chart attaching the island to the mainland, turning Stewart Island into a peninsula. Like Beaglehole, another New Zealand historian, Robert McNab, was shocked by this. Neither could conceive that Cook and the Admiralty would engage in strategic disinformation/cartographic secrecy. McNab writes: “Unless given us in Cook’s own words, it would be incredible that he could have made such a mistake.". However, G. A. Mawer argues that Cook was simply unsure whether it was an island because his focus was on finding the southern extent of New Zealand, and conditions were unfavourable for more closely exploring a possible strait. The strait was first charted by Owen Folger Smith, a New Yorker who had been in Sydney Harbour with Eber Bunker, from whom he probably learned of the eastern seal hunting. Smith charted the strait in the whaleboat of the sealing brig Union (out of New York) in 1804 and on his 1806 chart, it was called Smith's Straits. The island received its English name in honour of William W. Stewart. He was first officer on the Pegasus, which visited in 1809, and he charted the large south-eastern harbour that now bears the ship's name (Port Pegasus) and determined the northern points of the island, proving that it was an island. In 1824, he initiated plans in England to establish a timber, flax and trading settlement at Stewart Island and sailed there in 1826. In 1841, the island was established as one of the three Provinces of New Zealand and was named New Leinster. However, the province existed on paper only and was abolished after only five years. With the passing of the New Zealand Constitution Act 1846, the island became part of New Munster, which entirely included the South Island. When New Munster was abolished in 1853, Stewart Island became part of Otago Province until 1861, when Southland Province split from Otago. In 1876, the provinces were abolished altogether. For most of the twentieth century, "Stewart Island" was the official name, and the most commonly used. The name was officially altered to Stewart Island/Rakiura by the Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998, one of many such changes under the Ngāi Tahu treaty settlement.
Geography
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