 Taukihepa / Big South Cape Island is the largest of the islands marked on this map as "Muttonbird Islands" to the southwest of Stewart Island / Rakiura | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | South Tasman Sea, southwest of Stewart Island / Rakiura |
| Coordinates | 47°14′23″S 167°24′02″E / 47.2398°S 167.4006°E |
| Archipelago | Tītī / Muttonbird Islands |
| Area | 9 km2 (3.5 sq mi) |
| Length | 5.5 km (3.42 mi) |
| Width | 2.5 km (1.55 mi) |
| Highest elevation | 235 m (771 ft) |
| Administration | |
| Regional council | Southland |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 0 |
Taukihepa / Big South Cape Island is an offshore island of New Zealand to the west of the southern tip of Stewart Island / Rakiura. The island is the largest of the Tītī / Muttonbird Islands, and as such has no permanent inhabitants but is visited by muttonbirders in search of sooty shearwaters, known in New Zealand as "muttonbirds".
Māori named the island "Taukihepa" and Europeans, who arrived later, called it "Big South Cape". The island was given dual names in 1998 as part of a Treaty of Waitangi settlement with Ngāi Tahu.[1]
The island is the largest of a group of islands off the southwestern coast of Stewart Island / Rakiura, from which it is separated by a 1,500-metre (4,921 ft) wide channel. Surrounding smaller islands include Poutama Island to the south, Putauhina Island and the Putauhina Nuggets to the northwest, and Solomon Island to the north. The island rises to a height of 235 metres (771 ft) at its centre, and numerous small streams run to the coast. Named features on the island include two inlets – Murderers Cove in the central east coast and Puwai Bay in the island's southwest.[2] It has an area of about 900 hectares (2,200 acres).
- ^ Shaw, W. K. (10 May 2001). "Decisions of The New Zealand Geographic Board". New Zealand Geographic Board Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa. Retrieved 6 October 2009.
- ^ Dowling, P. (ed.) (2004) Reed New Zealand atlas. Auckland: Reed Books. Map 114. ISBN 0-7900-0952-8