Arapawa Doe
#675 Kauri Point Rosie
Arapawa Doe
#487 Quinlan All Sorts of Naughty
Arapawa Buck
#609 Shaded Farms Shackleton
Books & Media
Below you will find some interesting books and links to media articles about the Arapawa Goats
An Extraordinary Goat
New Zealand's Arapawa Goat
An Extraordinary Goat is a fascinating glimpse into a forgotten piece of New Zealand's living history.
In the Marlborough Sounds, Arapawa Island hosts one of the world's most endangered treasures: the Arapawa goats.
Introduced by Captain Cook in the 1770s, for over two centuries they thrived in isolation, developing unique characteristics through natural selection.
Recent studies confirm these goats possess genetic heritage found nowhere else on Earth. But with numbers dropping drastically, time is running out.
This book chronicles their remarkable story of survival, and the people fighting to save them.
Author : Alison Sutherland, PhD
An Extraordinary Goat can be purchased for $50 by emailing the author: alison@xtra.co.nz
Cooks Ark
Cooks's Ark is a fascinating account of the animals that sailed with Captain Cook to NZ and the South Pacific Islands.
From the tiniest mouse, poultry, cats, monkey's, pigs and goats etc. the reader follows the journey with James Cook.
This book provides details of the origins of the critically endangered New Zealand Arapwa Goats.
Author : Alison Sutherland, PhD
Cook's Ark can be purchased for $40 by emailing the author: alison@xtra.co.nz
Arapawa Goats
A Practical Guide for Beginners
This book offers comprehensive advice on raising these unique New Zealand goats, emphasizing their distinct needs and characteristics.
It covers essential topics like diet, housing, fencing, and healthcare, while also highlighting their historical background and conservation status.
The guide stresses that Arapawa goats, though small, are browsers, not grazers, and require specific forage and dietary considerations.
Authors : Alison Sutherland, PhD & Caroline Stanners
This is a 54 page downloadable PDF.
Click here to download your copy
Old Will
The First Arapawa Goat
On his first voyage to New Zealand, Captain Cook noted the lack of four-footed animals.
When he returned he brought with him goats as gifts for the New Zealand people.
Written for children, this is the true story of the origins of the critically endangered New Zealand Arapawa Goat.
Author : Alison Sunderland, PhD
This 24 page book for young children can be purchased for $15 by emailing the author: alison@xtra.co.nz
It can also be purchased via Fishpond.co.nz
No Ordinary Goat
The Story of New Zealands Arapawa Goats
Alison Sutherland (Founder & Patron of the New Zealand Arapawa Goats Association) has published a book on our Arapawa Goats.
For years there has been some controversy as to when their ancestors first came to New Zealand and this book is the result of four years of comprehensive research into their origin and history.
In a foreword to the book, Michael Willis of the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve has noted – “Alison takes us on a journey that is not only extremely readable and fascinating in its content, but it also gives an historical insight into part of our nations early history. Years of research has enabled Alison to systematically paint a verbal picture, bringing all the elements together in a way that has never been done before. This is an extremely enjoyable book to read, and an incredibly valuable documentation of a little known animal that has helped shape our country and identity.”
Author : Alison Sunderland, PhD
Printed in New Zealand, No Ordinary Goat, The Story of New Zealand’s Arapawa Goats, is a large (255 x 175 millimetres), soft cover book of 224 pages, with over 50 illustrations in colour.
A kindle edition of 'NO ORDINARY GOAT. : The story of New Zealand's Arapawa Goats' is now available via Amazon
NOTE : Currently Out of Print
First Edition 1988
Second Edition 2006
Arapawa
Once Upon an Island
Here is the fascinating story of an American family, who leaving all the comforts of suburban life in America came to New Zealand in search of a better lifestyle.
In Southland Betty struggled with rural living while her husband Walt tried to become a shepherd - with highly amusing results for both. Eventually they found their way to what they hoped would be their dream home - "Aotea" on Arapawa Island in the Marlborough Sounds, but it was not all paradise as the book tells.
Betty was drawn to the wildlife of Arapawa, the uniqueness of the sheep and goats she found there led her, and others, to seek protection for them.
Unwittingly she drew attention to the wildlife of Arapawa, and its presence to the bureaucratic machine that existed to exterminate the so called noxious animals.
It was to become a battle that went well beyond words as she and her supporters rallied to defend the goats against the men who came to shoot them.
This is a true, touching and factual account of the battle to save the Arapawa wildlife, and of the family at the centre of the conflict.
A battle that still goes on today.
Author : Betty Rowe
Published by The Halcyon Press, Arapawa - Once Upon an Island, is a l soft cover book of 186 pages, with many black & white photographs.
NOTE : Currently Out of Print
Download Mary Critchley's review of
Arapawa - Once Upon an Island here.
Rare Breeds of
Heritage Livestock in New Zealand
This book is about the rare breeds of heritage livestock that are found in New Zealand. Many of these are so reduced in numbers that their future now hangs in the balance. Each was brought into the country, or developed here, before 1950 and has been here continuously ever since, but their numbers are now so low that they must be considered rare if not endangered.
If they are allowed to die out, our options for future livestock needs will be drastically reduced.
The call to conserve rare breeds is all the more important these days when the threat of climatic change leaves us with an uncertain future.
Although only a small section of the book is devoted to Arapawa goats, it does provide a perspective with other rare feral and domestic breeds in this country.
Two other rare species that originated on Arapawa Island – sheep and pigs – are also covered.
Authors : Michael Trotter & Beverley McCulloch
This hard covered 152 page full colour book is obtainable by e-mailing
editor@rarebreeds.co.nz
More details are on the rare breeds website, click on the books image to be automatically redirected to Rare Breeds Conservation Society of NZ.
The Goat Who
Sailed the World
The following letter from Jackie French, author of 'The Goat Who Sailed the World', was written to the New Zealand Arapawa Goat Association (NZAGA) in July 2011. Note that the little goat illustrated on the cover of her book is the late 'Hemmingway', an Arapawa buck who was owned and loved by the Willowbank Wildlife Park in Christchurch (his photo was taken by Karen Nicoll). Jackie writes: I fell in love with Arapawa goats while researching The Goat Who Sailed the World, the true story of Captain Cook's goat. When James Cook and the Endeavour sailed from Plymouth in 1768 on the voyage that would first map eastern Australia (and lead to the British settling a colony there twenty years later) the tiny ship carried seventy-one crew, twelve marines, eleven scientists and their servants, seventeen sheep, a small mob of cattle for meat, four ducks and five chickens for eggs, a boar, a sow and her piglets for meat too, and three cats to catch the rats that swarmed on every ship. It carried a goat too. This was a famous goat. She had already sailed around the world with Captain Wallis, providing milk for the captain and his officers. Now she was going to face three years of storms and exploration, shipwreck, fire and plague. But the goat survived it all - and gave milk for the entire three year voyage. And when the Endeavour got back she was the most famous goat in history. The British government voted her a pension. The lords of the Admiralty signed a warrant, giving her the privileges of an in-pensioner of Greenwich Hospital - the only time such an honour has ever been given to an animal. The Royal Society gave her a silver collar. And Captain James Cook was so fond of her that he took her home with him. When I began researching the goat I thought her breed was extinct. It was only part way through that the New Zealand editor came up with the wonderful news - a small number of this hardy, intelligent, self possessed, productive and most individual of goats survived. When any breed dies, the world loses. The Arapawas aren't just a link with our past. They are a gene stock that needs to be preserved because ... well, perhaps because we don't know what the future may bring, but whatever it is, a gene pool of goats so tough and so productive may be needed. And Like Captain Cook, and his officers, many lives, too, will be made richer by sharing them with goats of such glorious individuality. Captain Cook's goat wasn't a sweet little nanny. Her first claim to fame was when the Dolphin had first reached Tahiti - the first European ship to reach the islands. The goat took a dislike to Tahitian royalty stepping onto 'her' quarterdeck. The unfortunate man bent down ... and the goat butted him and sent him flying. The poor man dived overboard to get away from her - followed by every other Tahitian. How can you not love a goat who butts royalty overboard? The goat died the year after the voyage, in April 1772, only two days after Parliament had voted give her the State pension. The Latin poem by the famous Dr Johnson (inscribed on her silver collar) was her epitaph: 'Perpetua ambita bis terra praemia lactis' Haec habet altrici Capra secunda Jovis.' Or: 'In fame scarce second to the nurse of Jove, This Goat, who twice the world had traversed round, Deserving both her master's care and love, Ease and perpetual pasture now has found.' May all the other Arapawas find 'ease and perpetual pasture' too, with those who will love them and preserve them. Author : Jackie French Published by Harper Collins, The Goat Who Sailed the World is a soft cover book of 218 pages, detailing a map of Cook's Endeavour voyage 17 July 1768 - 13 July 1771.