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Island in New Zealand

Great Barrier Island lies in the outer Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand, north east of central Auckland. With an area of it is the sixth largest island of New Zealand and fourth largest in the main chain. Its highest point, Mount Hobson, is above sea level. The local authority is the Auckland Council. The island was initially exploited for its minerals and kauri trees and saw only limited agriculture. In 2013, it was inhabited by 939 people, mostly living from farming and tourism and all living off the grid. The majority of the island (around 60% of the total area) is administered as a nature reserve by the Department of Conservation.

Much of Great Barrier Island is formed from remnants of volcanoes associated with the Coromandel Volcanic Zone. The North Great Barrier Volcano, which was centred to the north of the modern island from Whangapoua Bay northwards, formed through events between 18 and 17 million years ago; some of the earliest vulcanism which occurred in the zone. The Great Barrier Volcano formed to the west of the modern island between 15 and 12 million years ago. Much of the modern island is this volcano's eroded eastern flanks. The third volcano, Mount Hobson, is the caldera of a complex rhyolite dome volcano, which was active between 12 and 8 million years ago. Great Barrier Island has been linked to the North Island for most of the last 18 million years, by a land bridge to the south along the Colville Channel. Approximately 17,000 years ago during the Last Glacial Maximum, the Hauraki Gulf was a low lying coastal plain as sea levels were over 100 metres lower than present day levels. During this period, Great Barrier Island was bordered by the two major river systems that flowed on the plain. In the mid 19th century during the early Colonial era of New Zealand, extensive private and crown land purchases meant only two areas of the Hauraki Gulf remained in Māori ownership: Te Huruhi (Surfdale) on Waiheke Island (2100 acres) on Waiheke and a 3,510 acre parcel of land at Katherine Bay on Great Barrier Island.

Early European interest followed discovery of copper in the remote north, where New Zealand's earliest mines were established at Miners Head in 1842. Traces of these mines remain, largely accessible only by boat. Later, gold and silver were found in the Okupu / Whangaparapara area in the 1890s, and the remains of a stamping battery on the Whangaparapara Road are a remainder of this time. The sound of the battery working was reputedly audible from the Coromandel Peninsula, 20 km away. If restarted, mining at White Cliffs would occur in the same area it originally proliferated on Great Barrier. The area's regenerating bushland still holds numerous semi collapsed or open mining shafts where silver and gold had been mined. The logging industry cut down large amounts of old growth, and most of the current growth is younger native forest (around 150,000 kauri seedlings were planted by the New Zealand Forest Service in the 1970s and 1980s) as well as some remaining kauri in the far north of the island. Another major wreck lies in the far southeast, the SS Wiltshire. feral goats, thus being a relative haven for native bird and plant populations. Rare animals found on the island include brown teal ducks, black petrel seabirds and kākā parrots.

Great Barrier Island has two marae affiliated with the local iwi of Ngāti Rehua and Ngātiwai: the Kawa Marae and its Rehua meeting house, and Motairehe Marae and its Whakaruruhau meeting house. In October 2020, the Government committed $313,007 from the Provincial Growth Fund to upgrade Kawa Marae, creating 6 jobs.

In 2017, Aotea / Great Barrier Island was accredited as a Dark Sky Sanctuary by the International Dark Sky Association. This designation is given for sites in very remote locations to increase awareness of their dark sky characteristics and promote long term conservation. At the time, it was the third International Dark Sky Sanctuary to be designated, and the first island sanctuary.

The population lives mostly in coastal settlements. Tryphena, in Tryphena Harbour at the southern end, is the largest settlement. Other communities are Okupu and Whangaparapara in the south west, Port Fitzroy and Ōkiwi in the north, and Claris and Medlands in the south east. The population swells substantially from October to May. The island has become a favourite holiday destination in the darker months, due its superbly dark sky and the astrophotography and stargazing opportunities this offers. In 2017 the island was given Dark Sky Sanctuary status by the IDA. Its relative remoteness offers solitude, and the sustainable off grid lifestyle of its inhabitants is something many visitors like to experience. Without reticulated electricity, most houses use solar panels and a battery bank to generate and store power. Wind and water turbines and solar water heaters are also used. Diesel generators, which used to be the main power source, are now mostly used as back up. From the end of February 2007, the island was seen around the world as the setting for the BBC One reality show Castaway, which was filmed there for three months.

There are two airfields on the island, Great Barrier Aerodrome at Claris and Okiwi Airfield. Barrier Air operate services from Auckland Airport and North Shore Aerodrome to Claris. Flight time is approximately 35 minutes from Auckland Airport. Barrier Air will also commence a service from Claris to Tauranga in December 2022. Sunair operates between Claris and Hamilton, Tauranga, Whangārei and Whitianga. SeaLink operates a passenger, car and freight ferry. This ferry operates from Wynyard Wharf in Auckland city to Tryphena (several times weekly). Sailing time is approximately four and a half hours. Other travel options: Barrier Express fast ferry from Sandspit or Auckland. Flight Hauraki, Christian Aviation, Auckland Seaplanes, Heletranz, Oceania Helicopters.

Institutions and services are primarily provided by the Auckland Council, the local authority. Services and infrastructure like roads and the wharves at Tryphena and Whangaparapara are subsidised, with the island receiving about $4 in services for every $1 in rates. As part of Auckland the rules governing daily activities and applicable standards for civic works and services exists, shared with some of the other inhabited islands of the Hauraki Gulf. Driving rules are the same as for the rest of NZ and registration and a Warrant of Fitness are required for all vehicles. For example, every transport service operated solely on the island, the Chatham Islands, or Stewart Island/Rakiura is exempt from section 70C of the Transport Act 1962, the requirements for drivers to maintain driving hours logbooks. Drivers subject to section 70B must nevertheless keep records of their driving hours in some form. Rules governing dog control are the same as for Auckland. Dogs must be kept on a lead in all public places.