These islands were named by Captain James Cook, who first sighted them on 25 November 1769. It has been suggested that the name was inspired by an old name for the star cluster usually known as the Pleiades. Originally owned by the MāoriNgā Puhiiwi, they were sold to the New Zealand Government in 1883. The islands were made a scenic reserve in 1908 owing to the rarity of their flora and fauna, and became a wildlife refuge in 1953. Hen Island had actually passed from Māori hands a few years earlier, being bought by Thomas Outhwaite in 1872. It was bequeathed to the nation by his daughter Isa Outhwaite in 1927, and it too was named as a scenic reserve. In June 1940, the Canadian-Australasian Royal Mail Ship sank off the islands after hitting a mine. Most of the cargo, which included gold bullion, was later salvaged.
Environment
The islands are noted for their bird life, with colonies of seabirds as well as forest birds which have become scarce or extinct on the mainland. The islands have been identified as an Important Bird Area, by BirdLife International because they are home to a breeding population of about 500 pairs of Pycroft's petrels.
The islands
Hen Island, or Taranga, lies to the southwest from the rest of the archipelago. It is also considerably larger than the Chicken Islands, or Marotiri, which comprise a chain of six small islands running north-west to south-east to the north of Hen Island. The chain consists of Wareware and Muriwhenua Islands, Mauitaha, Lady Alice Island or Motu Muka, Whatupuke, and Coppermine Island.
Taranga (Hen) Island
Taranga is the largest island by some considerable margin, totalling. Long and thin, it has a length of and an average width of less than. A remnant of a four-million-year-old volcano, the island is dominated by a rocky ridge reaching to about at its highest point, called The Pinnacles. Sail Rock, a stack, rises from the ocean to the south of Hen Island, and is a prominent navigational point for yachts. By the late 1800s, Hen Island was the only place in New Zealand with a surviving population of North Island saddleback. The once common species of forest bird found in the North Island, was decimated by the human introduction of mammalian predators, such as rats and stoats. In the 1960s translocations of saddleback from Hen Island to other island sanctuaries around New Zealand began.
Wareware and Muriwhenua
Two small rocky islands with a combined area of.
Mauitaha
This, rugged, scrub-covered rock lies to the south of Muriwhenua. It rises to. The New Zealand Department of Conservation and the Ngati Wai iwi have entered into partnership to set up a sanctuary for the Polynesian rat, or kiore, on the islands Mauitaha and Araara. A spokesman for Ngati Wai said the kiore heritage will be protected as the movement of the kiore through the Pacific paralleled the migration of the New Zealand Maori. A spokesman for the Department of Conservation said the Department's policy change from eradication would assist scientific research.
Lady Alice Island
Named after Lady Alice Fergusson, it is the largest of the five Chickens and is of particular significance because of its flora and fauna. The island covers and is surrounded by rocky reefs. It was occupied by Māori until the 1820s, and was used as a base for fishermen in the 1890s. Cattle were introduced at about this time, but were removed in the 1920s.
Whatupuke
Formerly known as Whakahau this island is composed of a large eastern section and a peninsula to the southwest. The coast of the peninsula forms one of the chain's main land features, a wide bay. The island covers, and is steep, rising to.
Coppermine Island
Coppermine island covers an area of. It is composed of two sections joined by a short isthmus. As the name suggests, there are copper deposits on the island, but attempts at mining them in 1849 and 1898 proved unprofitable.
