Curtis Island, New Zealand
Curtis Island is an island in the southwest Pacific. It is a volcanic island with an elevation of and an area of. Together with neighbouring Cheeseman Island it belongs to the Kermadec Islands, an outlying island group of New Zealand, located halfway between New Zealand's North Island and the nation of Tonga.History
Lieutenant John Watts, RN was the first European to visit the Macauley and Curtis Islands – which he named after patrons George Mackenzie Macaulay and William Curtis – on the Lady Penrhyn in late 1788. Lady Penryn had delivered convicts to New South Wales as part of the First Fleet and was proceeding to Macao.
Count von Luckner, Commander of the German raider Seeadler during the First World War, stopped off at Curtis Island to replenish his stores from the castaway depot left there by the New Zealand Marine Department while attempting to make good his escape from New Zealand to South America.Environment
The island is a breeding site for the masked booby. It forms part of the Kermadec Islands Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because it is an important site for nesting seabirds.
