[3]: 42 Frederick Chamberlin bought Ponui Island from the New Zealand government in 1854.

[4] Donkeys were brought to the island together with other livestock from New South Wales, and a feral population established itself.

The Ponui Island Donkey now has formal breed status,[5] and some are distributed in mainland New Zealand.

The Ponui is listed as 'rare' by the Rare Breeds Conservation Society of New Zealand;[2] it is not among the New Zealand livestock breeds reported to the DAD-IS database of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

It is usually light dun in colour, but may be chocolate; broken-coloured donkeys cannot be registered.