Ōtamahua/Quail Island #6: Sea cadets, farming, ecological restoration and a new jetty
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| The old 'outer' jetty, Quail Island, 1953. Ministry of Works and Development, Archives NZ, CALW CH167 Box 17 |
This is my last post about Ōtamahua/Quail Island. There have been more posts than I ever anticipated - evidence of the richness of Quail Island's history.
Once Ōtamahua/Quail Island was no longer used for human quarantine purposes post-1931, various groups took advantage of its relative isolation within easy reach of Christchurch. This was not always without drama. In August 1938 a group of 10 boys (members of the Secondary School Christian Union) and four adults were camping on the island. At 2.00pm on August 29 they were waiting at the jetty, as arranged, to be taken off the island by the Awhina Nui.[1] The very heavy seas running along the coast and in harbour meant the launch, which was based in Port Levy, could not make it to Lyttelton. One boy was unwell with suspected measles and, since there was no longer any telephone communication with the mainland, some of the group worked their way over to the Lyttelton side of the island and lit a signal fire on the beach. They also sent SOS torch messages. Finally the harbourmaster got the message and sent the Harbour Board launch Ruahine to pick up the lads, but not until well after dark.[2]
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| Awhina Nui in Lyttelton Harbour. Taken from Mary Stapylton-Smith, Adderley to Bradley, 166 |
From 1943 until 1950 the Navy League Sea Cadet Corps leased an acre and a half on the island for training purposes. The lease was extended to the whole island in 1950. The tenancy included the use of, and responsibility for, the old Quarantine Barracks on Whakamaru Beach and the old stables.[3] In January 1943 the first combined Sea Cadet camp in New Zealand was held with cadets coming from Christchurch, Dunedin and Wellington. The Navy League’s camps on Quail Island were so successful that it was given official recognition as the national headquarters for sea cadets.
Later in 1943 the old quarantine barracks were remodeled to better accommodate the large numbers of cadets. A Press report on the January 1944 camp detailed the cadets’ daily activities. These included rifle drill, squad drill, shooting, practical seamanship, knots and splices, wire and hemp splicing, blocks and tackle, signaling in semaphore, Morse and the international code of flags, heaving the lead, boatwork, including sailing in the two 25-foot whalers and three skiffs and swimming.[4] Such training fitted cadets for entry to the Royal New Zealand Navy.
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'Sea Cadets in camp off Lyttelton: Boys from four main centres receive training at Quail Island.' Supplement to the Auckland Weekly News, 2 February 1944, Auckland Libraries
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It is not clear which jetty was used to disembark cadets, officers and supplies for the large numbers of personnel involved since both the ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ jetties were by this time deteriorating in condition with the ‘outer jetty’ already fenced off to the public. My guess is it was probably the stock jetty which was closer to the centre of operations. There was also another, much more flimsy structure, about which I have no information but which may well have been connected with the Navy League Sea Cadet Corps sailing activities on Quail Island. The Sea Cadet whaleboats were housed in a nearby boastshed.
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| A later structure on Whakamaru beach, maybe used by Sea Cadets? Undated. WA Taylor collection, Canterbury Museum |
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| The same 'jetty'. Again no date but clearly being well used. Diamond Harbour Historical Association |
Despite its success, the Navy League could not sustain the rental and maintenance of the facilities and surrendered its lease in 1951 in favour of Ripapa Island.
Following the deaths of the Ward brothers, farming languished on Ōtamahua/Quail Island until December 1931 when the animal quarantine station closed and the island was leased by the Department of Lands and Survey. Between 1958 and 1975 David Halliwell grew between five and six acres of Arran Banner potatoes each year and produced wool from 300-400 Romney ewes. The potatoes, grown on the island’s frost-free north-east side, were the first to reach the Lyttelton market. David used his 19ft launch Rawene to transport his wool clip and early potatoes. The harvested potatoes would be stored in boxes which were then taken by tractor to the jetty, carried down the steps onto the foredeck of the Rawane and, depending on the tides, transported across to Charteris Bay. Hard work. The crane on the dilapidated Stock Jetty was used for loading the wool clip and for landing timber for repairs to gates and buildings.
David also ran the picnic ground and let out buildings on Whakamaru Beach to holiday-makers.
Visitors to the island travelled on the ferry Ngātiki, one of the Diamond Harbour ferries, and were landed at either jetty. David then transported their belongings to Whakamaru Beach with his tractor. The water at the southern jetty (now called the stock jetty) was too shallow for the Ngātiki to use except at full tide.[5]
Other visitors simply ran their boats up onto the sandy beaches on the south side, much as Māori did in centuries past, and picnicked, swam and fished. I remember New Years Day picnics at Whakamaru Beach in the 1960s and trawling for sole and flounder with the Sinclair family on the shallows between
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| Ngatiki at Lyttelton. Taken from Mary Stapylton-Smith, Adderley to Bradley, 168 |
The most recent – and arguably the most exciting – chapter in the story of Ōtamahua/Quail Island began in 1987 when the management of the island was transferred to the Department of Conservation. The following year an ambitious ecological restoration project was launched, spearheaded by the Ōtamahua/Quail Island Ecological Restoration Trust. The Trust aimed to facilitate the restoration of indigenous vegetation and fauna and provide refuge for locally extinct, or rare and endangered species of the Banks Peninsula region. It also wished to recognise the island's historical and cultural significance and encourage public understanding, awareness and care of this important legacy.
Thirty years on the revegetation of the island is visible from all around the harbour. Intensive pest eradication, combined with the growth of the native plantings, has encouraged the presence and/or return of kereru, korimako, pipiwharuroa, kororā, riroriro, kotare, piwakawaka and tauhou as well as a number of invertebrates. The most recent development has been the transformation of the historic caretaker’s cottage into a 12-bunk tramping hut.
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| Deep water jetty rebuild plans 1980, Lyttelton Harbour Board, Archives NZ/ECan |
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| The old 'outer' jetty, Quail Island, 1953. Ministry of Works and Development, Archives NZ, CALW CH167 Box 17
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[1] Not clear which of the two jetties.
[2] Press, 30 August 1938
[3] Heritage New Zealand, Ōtamahua/Quail Island Historic Area, http://www.heritage.org.nz/the-list/details/9552
[4] Press, 20 January 1944
[5] Lindsay J. Daniel, Companion to Otamahua-Quail Island,: A link with the Past. Otamahua-Quail Island Restoration Trust, 2017. Available as an e-book from the Restoration Trust, https://www.quailisland.org.nz/index.php/shop
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