An offshore island conservation project in Tamatea/Dusky Sound

Lying within Dusky Sound near its mouth, Indian Island/Mamaku is one of the fiord's special sites, cloaked in Maori history. Back in 1773 Captain Cook first sighted the indigenous people of Fiordland on Indian Island (hence the name) and Hodges famously painted the scene. Evidence of Maori settlement on this 168 ha low lying forested island is still visible today. Cook's naturalist on the Resolution wrote of "various notes of birds which resounded throughout the whole cove".