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South East Island/Rangatira is the third largest island in the Chatham Islands chain, and covers an area of 218 hectares. It is located 800 km east of New Zealand's South Island. The island lies off the southeast coast of Pitt Island, 55 km southeast of the chain's main settlement, Waitangi, on Chatham Island. Ranatira is gazetted nature reserve and as such, access to the island is restricted and controlled by the Department of Conservation. Rangatira is host to an amazing variety of rare and endemic species of birds, plants and insects and is a sanctuary for endangered invertibrates such as the Giant Stick Insect, Rangatira spider, Coxella Weevil and the Pitt Island Longhorn. It is most famous for being the habitat for the endangered Black Robin, rescued from near extinction by a dedicated team led by Don Mertons, who used foster parent birds to raise the chicks of Black Robin. Ancient Moriori used to travel to Rangatira by waka korari to capture titi (muttonbirds) and although there are no signs of this use remaining today, such as dendroglyphs (tree carvings) or petroglyphs (rock art), oral traditions support this use of the island. European farmers ran sheep, goats and cattle on Rangatira righ up until the 1960's when the last of these were removed.
Moriori education resources
