First cleared and farmed during the Colonial Settlement (1788 – 1814), Hundred Acres Reserve is named after “One Hundred Acre” farm established in this area during the Second Colonial (Penal) Settlement (1825 – 1855). The area was originally set aside as a public reserve in the 1890's.
The reserve is the primary breeding site on the Island for black noddies (Anous minutus), which nest in trees along the central ridge and eastern valley tracks. Hundreds of “ghostbird”: wedge-tailed shearwater (Puffinus pacificus) nest in burrows under the forest and small numbers of red-tailed tropicbirds (Phaeton rubricauda) nest on coastal cliff ledges.
During World War II, New Zealand “N Force” troops established an observation post at Rocky Point. You may be able to see that most of the white oaks on nearby lower slopes have multiple stems growing from close to ground level: they were cut to provide a clear view of the sea and coastal cliffs. “N Force” also constructed small dugouts and trenches on the seaward slopes and along the eastern valley – all part of a network of defensive positions around the Island, which was strategically important in the south-west Pacific theatre for ferrying newly-constructed aircraft being deployed to the islands in the north.
Rocky Point is a great place to watch seabirds as they fly close along the coast – you will get a good view of great frigatebirds , Tasman boobies black noddies, white terns , grey ternlet and many others. You may also see pairs of red-tailed tropicbirds performing their spectacular aerial display above the cliffs: circling repeatedly one over the other with each of the pair in turn flying up into the wind to float backwards above its mate.