Tiny Island with big history on display

 1:25 Tiny Island with big history on display

Portland Island is a tiny speck of land opposite the Mahia Peninsula on the East Coast of the North Island.

The three kilometre stretch of land has a rich history of being home to Maori for six hundred years to being home for a whaling station in the 1800s.

Details of the island's varied and interesting history are on display at the Wairoa Museum which has sourced exhibits, photos and stories to be shown from tomorrow until September.

Jenny Roper's been involved with the project and talks to Jesse about why the island is so fascinating.

Portland Island/Waikawa is a small island opposite Mahia Peninsula

Today the island is used for farming

The lighthouse which used to be on Portland Island is now in Wairoa

The tiny island made it on to the map of New Zealand's lighthouses

The island housed a whaling station in the area in the late 1800s

A carving from a whale bone when the island was home to a whaling station

Waikawa's coastline