Nine small groups of islands belonging to New Zealand
Map of the New Zealand outlying islands in relation to the main New Zealand archipelago
The New Zealand outlying islands are nine offshore island groups that are part of New Zealand, with all but Solander Islands lying beyond the 12nm limit of the mainland's territorial waters. Although considered integral parts of New Zealand, seven of the nine island groups are not part of any administrative region or district, but are instead each designated as an Area Outside Territorial Authority. The two exceptions are the Chatham Islands, which are covered by their own special territorial authority, and the Solander Islands, which are part of the Southland Region and Southland District.
Eight island groups sit on the New Zealand continental shelf, which forms a part of Zealandia. The Kermadec Islands, northeast of mainland New Zealand, are on a ridge, whose location as part or not part of Zealandia is not yet proven by geologists.[1][2] Both sources show a map drawn of Zealandia, marking the location of islands north and south of New Zealand.
Northernmost outlying island group, consisting of a range of volcanic islands which are part of the wider Tonga-Kermadec Ridge. Despite having no permanent population, a meteorological station on Raoul Island is permanently staffed.
Unnamed point on Manawatāwhi / Great Island 295 m (968 ft)
The islands are on a submarine plateau, the Three Kings Bank, and are separated from the New Zealand mainland by an 8 km wide, 200 to 300 m deep submarine trough
There is a staffed meteorological station on Raoul Island of the Kermadec Islands. The meteorological station on Campbell Island has been unstaffed and automated since 1995. There was a meteorological station on the Auckland Islands from 1942 to 1945. The Three Kings Islands and the Auckland Islands were formerly inhabited. There have been failed settlement attempts on Raoul Island, the Antipodes Islands and the Auckland Islands. The Solander Islands have never been inhabited except by shipwrecked sailors or marooned stowaways (for the longest period, from 1808 to 1813 by five European stowaways).
^Mortimer, Nick; Campbell, Hamish J.; Tulloch, Andy J.; King, Peter R.; Stagpoole, Vaughan M.; Wood, Ray A.; Rattenbury, Mark S.; Sutherland, Rupert; Adams, Chris J.; Collot, Julien; Seton, Maria (March–April 2017). "Zealandia: Earth's Hidden Continent". GSA Today. 27 (3): 27–35. doi:10.1130/GSATG321A.1. Retrieved 18 March 2022. Several elevated bathymetric features north of Zealandia are possible candidates for Zealandia prolongations or separate microcontinents (Fig. 2). These include the Three Kings, Lau-Colville, and Tonga-Kermadec ridges and Fiji, which are known Cenozoic volcanic arcs (Graham, 2015), and the Mellish Rise and Louisiade and West Torres plateaus. However, no continental basement rocks have yet been sampled from any of these features, so their continental nature remains unproven.
