Rakiura National Park is the 14th of New Zealand's national parks and was officially opened on 9 March 2002 by the Prime Minister, Helen Clark, the Minister of Conservation, Sandra Lee, and the mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary.

A chain sculpture at the entrance to Rakiura National Park symbolises the Māori mythology of the island, which held that the South Island was the canoe of the demigod Māui and that Rakiura was the canoe's anchor, as evidenced by an alternative name for the island of "Te Punga o Te Waka a Māui" (the anchor of Māui's canoe).

[4] The sculpture was designed by noted Southland sculptor Russell Beck, and was unveiled as part of the opening of the national park.

[6] Many native birds can be found within the park, and Rakiura offers perhaps the best opportunity anywhere in New Zealand for viewing kiwi in the wild.

The kākāpō have been transferred to nearby Codfish Island / Whenua Hou, which is not part of the national park.

[14][15][16] The Northwest Circuit circumnavigates the northern and western aspects of Stewart Island.

The track is 125 kilometres (78 mi) long and takes most people between eight and ten days to complete.