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Matiu / Somes Island

April 11, 2024

Matiu / Somes Island is the largest of three islands in the northern half of Wellington Harbour, New Zealand. The island is 24.9 hectares (62 acres) in area, and lies 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south of the suburb of Petone and the mouth of the Hutt River.

Matiu / Somes Island
Matiu (Māori)
Matiu / Somes Island as seen from Mount Kaukau
Location of Matiu / Somes Island within Wellington Harbour
Nearest cityWellington
Coordinates41°15′29.7″S 174°51′55.4″E / 41.258250°S 174.865389°E / -41.258250; 174.865389
Area24.9 ha (62 acres)
Max. elevation74 metres (243 ft)
Designation
  • Historic reserve
  • scientific reserve
Designated1995
Governing bodyHarbour Islands Kaitiaki Board

Matiu / Somes Island was used as a place of refuge by pre-colonial Māori. Middens and other remnants of habitation have been found on the island. There is also a long and varied European history. The island was used for human quarantine from 1840 until the 1920s. Ships arriving in Wellington Harbour with infectious passengers or crew would disembark them at Matiu / Somes Island for care and treatment before berthing in the city. During both World War I and World War II, "enemy aliens", including long-term residents of New Zealand who originated from enemy countries, were interned on the island. Anti-aircraft gun emplacements were also built on the island during World War II and their remains can be seen today. The island was used for animal quarantine from 1864 until 1995. A maximum security animal quarantine station was built in 1968.

The island's environment had become degraded during its long period of use for quarantine and defence purposes. However, in 1981 work began to restore the forest cover. Following more than 30 years of environmental restoration and the translocation of species, the island is now home to many native birds, invertebrates, reptiles and plants. Since 1995, Matiu / Somes Island has been designated as a scientific and historic reserve. For many years the public was banned from visiting the island due to its role as a human and animal quarantine station, but visitors are now welcome and may stay overnight on the island.

In 2009, ownership of the island was transferred to the Māori collective Taranaki Whānui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika, as part of the settlement of claims against the Crown for breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi. The island is managed by the Department of Conservation.

Toponymy edit

 
Matiu / Somes Island as seen from Normandale, Lower Hutt

Legend has it that Matiu and the nearby Mākaro island received their original Māori names from Kupe, the semi-legendary first navigator to reach New Zealand and return home with knowledge of the new land.[1][2] He named them after his two daughters (or, in some versions of the tale, nieces) when he first entered the harbour around 1,000 CE.[3][4]

After European settlement, the island was known for over a century as Somes Island. In 1839 it fell under the control of the New Zealand Company along with much of the greater Wellington region.[5] The island was renamed after Joseph Somes, the company's deputy-governor and financier at the time.[6] In 1997, after 10 months of investigation and consideration of submissions by the public, the New Zealand Geographic Board assigned the official bilingual name of "Matiu/Somes Island" in recognition of the island's European and Māori histories.[7] Ward Island was renamed as Mākaro/Ward Island at the same time. Since then the board has adopted the formatting convention of placing a space before and after the slash, so the official name is now written as "Matiu / Somes Island".[8][9]

Geography edit

The island is 24.9 hectares (62 acres) in area,[10] and lies 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south of the suburb of Petone and the mouth of the Hutt River.[11] Just off the northern tip of Matiu / Somes Island lies tiny Mokopuna Island, also known as Leper Island.[12] The much smaller Mākaro / Ward Island is about 5 kilometres (3 mi) southeast of Matiu / Somes Island.[13]

 
Topographic map of Matiu /Somes Island

A distinct gully runs from the south of the former quarantine station and terminates at the sea on the southern end of the island between two largely forested ridges on either side to the east and west.[14] The gully floor forms a swamp, but an ephemeral watercourse flows through it during periods of heavy rain. A 1942 map shows a small dam across the creek.[15]

Despite being surrounded by sea water, Matiu / Somes Island has access to fresh water from the Waiwhetu artesian aquifer. Water from the Hutt River infiltrates into porous gravels in the vicinity of Taita Gorge, with between 3.8 and 5.7 million litres per hour flowing from the bed of the river into the underlying gravels between Taita Gorge and Melling. South of Melling, a layer of clay forms an impervious cap (or aquiclude) that holds the artesian water underground and causes it to build up pressure as it flows through the gravel layer southwards towards Wellington Harbour. The pressurised water can rise to the surface if the fresh water layer is penetrated with a bore hole. There are also artesian gravels beneath much of Wellington Harbour, in some places hundreds of metres deep, and they extend out to the present harbour entrance.[16]: 58–59 [17]: 22–23  The water level in the harbour was much lower 20,000 years ago, and the ancient Hutt River used to flow down a paleochannel to the east of the Matiu / Somes Island ridge as far as present-day Kilbirnie.[18]: 28 [17]: 75 [19] The Waiwhetu aquifer flows under the sea bed from the direction of the Hutt River to the harbour mouth via the paleochannel. Matiu / Somes Island gets its fresh water from a bore sunk into the aquifer just offshore at the main wharf. In February 2016, the Department of Conservation temporarily restricted access to the island because a long dry summer had lowered the volume and pressure of water from the aquifer, requiring strict water conservation.[20]

 
Rock arch and raised platform at the northern tip of Matiu / Somes Island

The island has three benches or platforms at 30, 45 and 75 metres above the current mean sea level.[18]: 18  The origin of these benches is uncertain. Similar levels are found on various ridges around the harbour, and the flat top of Makaro / Ward Island corresponds to the 30 metre level.[21] They are likely to be interglacial wave cut benches that have been uplifted. No marine deposits have been found on the benches, but it is possible that they result from a combination of fluvial processes and tectonic uplift.[22]: 36 [23]: 7  If they were wave cut benches any marine deposits have been eroded away. The 1855 Wairarapa earthquake raised Matiu / Somes Island by about 1.5 metres.[24] The perimeters of both Matiu / Somes and Mokopuna Island have shore platforms that were eroded by the sea prior to the 1855 earthquake. There are some remnants of an earlier platform at 2.4 to 3 m above the present mean sea level. A rock arch and platform at the northern end of Matiu / Somes Island was formed by the action of the sea, but was raised above sea-level by successive earthquakes, including the 1855 Wairarapa earthquake. The arch now appears as a hole in the rock, above sea level.[22]: 49 

Somes Rock is an underwater pinnacle off the southwest point of Matiu / Somes island.[25][26]

Geology edit

Further information: Geology of the Wellington Region

Matiu / Somes Island and the surrounding landscape of Wellington is dominated by grey sandstone and darker mudstone sequences, together commonly known as greywacke. In the harbour surrounding the island, the greywacke basement is overlain unconformably by solifluction debris and river gravels, then shelly marine silts, and finally artesian gravels that are capped with shelly marine silts.[21][27]

Matiu / Somes Island is an uplifted block of greywacke, a horst structure thought to be part of a drowned ridge pushed up between faults that run northeast–southwest close to the west and east sides of the island.[16]: 42  The faults extend from just offshore of Petone beach to about 1 km south of the island.[28] The greywacke at Matiu / Somes Island, and the surrounding Wellington landscape, is Late Triassic in age and assigned to the Rakaia Terrane, one of several terranes that collectively make up the Torlesse Composite Terrane (also known as the Torlesse Supergroup).[note 1][29]: 76–89  A tube fossil (Torlessia mackayi )[note 2][30] has been found on the island. Although it has not been formally identified, it has been documented with an age range of 215-205 Ma (Late Triassic).[31] Tube fossils have also been found at other nearby locations such as Princess Bay and Sinclair Head, along the shore platform of Wellington's south coast.[32][33]

History edit

Māori history edit

During the 18th century Ngāti Ira, an East Coast iwi, settled in Petone and around the eastern shores of the harbour. They built two pā on the island but there was no permanent settlement on the island due to limited resources there.[1] Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Tama from Taranaki drove Ngāti Ira from their settlements in the 1820s.[1]

In November 1835 Ngāti Mutunga people, affiliated to Te Āti Awa, seized the ship Lord Rodney at Wellington. The crew were tied up and the Lord Rodney's captain John Harewood was forced or bribed to take a group of hundreds of Māori to the Chatham Islands.[34] To ensure Harewood's compliance, his chief mate was held hostage on Matiu / Somes Island.[35][36] There was no Māori occupation on Matiu / Somes from about 1840.[1][37]

Archaeological sites edit

At the northern end of the island on a site with steep cliffs there was the Te Moana–a–kura pā which contained terraces and middens.[1][38] Haowhenua pā was built in the middle of the island, where the quarantine station was sited, but the only remaining sign of occupation is a midden.[38] The midden, which was underneath the hospital building, was uncovered and excavated during building work in 1999. Faunal remains included shellfish (species from the mainland), fish and bird bones.[37]

European history edit

 
NZ Department of Conservation buildings

At various times throughout the 19th and 20th centuries the island hosted quarantine facilities for both human immigrants and animals, and enemy alien internees during wartime.

Human quarantine edit

In 1868 the island was declared a quarantine ground and used to isolate passengers from a ship carrying smallpox.[39] When the immigrant ship England arrived in 1872 carrying several passengers with smallpox, passengers and crew were quartered in makeshift accommodation on the island.[40] On other occasions, new arrivals would spend ten minutes in a smokehouse of chlorine, potassium nitrate and sulphur fumes for de-lousing.[41] During the influenza pandemic of 1918–1920, a few people were quarantined on Matiu / Somes Island, but there was general agreement that the facilities were completely inadequate.[42][43][44] The government then built accommodation for hundreds more people.[45] In 1920, some passengers and crew from the ship Mahana were quarantined on Matiu / Somes Island with scarlet fever, but the quarantine station fell out of use after this.[46] In 1935 the Government announced that it would reduce the number of quarantine beds on the island from 600 to about 50,[47] but the Ministry of Health continued to restrict access to the island.[35]: 74  In 1946, after World War II had ended, the island was offered back to the Ministry of Health but it declined to retake control.[35]: 121 

Forty-five people are known to be buried on the island, mostly immigrants who arrived in the 1870s. In 1971, individual gravestones were removed from the overgrown cemetery and replaced with a large memorial.[48][49] In January 2000, four of the old headstones were retrieved from storage and placed next to the communal memorial.[50]

Animal quarantine edit

Use of the island as an animal quarantine facility is recorded as early as 1864, when an advertisement in the Wellington Independent recorded that a man named James Sellars had been permitted to use it as a quarantine ground for his sheep.[51] In 1889 Matiu / Somes Island was declared as the first animal quarantine station in New Zealand.[52] In 1892 the government established a Department of Agriculture to protect New Zealand's farming industry, and in 1893 passed the Stock Act.[53][54] The Stock Act 1893 gave the Department of Agriculture power to quarantine all live animals arriving in the country, so it built permanent animal quarantine facilities on Matiu / Somes Island (in 1893) and at other locations for this purpose.[52] In 1916, internees on the island built stables for the quarantine station.[52]

In 1968 the government built a maximum security animal quarantine station. It had laboratories, animal pens and other facilities for quarantining up to 35 cattle and 150 sheep, and there were associated new homes for the workers and their families. Other animals quarantined included goats, alpacas, llamas and deer. The quarantine station was officially opened in December 1970.[35]: 132–133  It closed in 1995 after in-vitro fertilisation technology was developed, making importation and quarantining of live breeding stock unnecessary.[52]

World War I internment camp edit

 
Men on Somes Island c. 1914, including internees

During World War I the island continued to be used for quarantining animals[55] but was also used for an internment camp which imprisoned about 300 "enemy aliens". Prisoners during this time included many German prisoners of war and suspected Danish imposter Hjelmar von Danneville.[56] Other "enemy aliens" included German residents of New Zealand who were considered dangerous or who were reservists in the German or Austrian armies, sailors who had been at sea when war broke out, and Germans from Samoa.[35][57]

In March 1915 two prisoners escaped from the island by swimming to Petone,[58] where they turned themselves in at a police station, seeking to alert the authorities to allegedly poor treatment of internees.[59] In July 1918 four men escaped on a raft made of wood with oil drums for buoyancy, landing at Ngauranga; one of the men died of exposure on the beach and the others were recaptured after seeking help.[59][60]

An inquiry was held towards the end of the war into numerous accusations of mistreatment of alien internees on the island.[57][61] Although in general the inquiry report found an absence of evidence to support charges of ill-treatment, it did make some recommendations to improve conditions for internees, and noted the use of "disrespectful language" by the camp overseer.[57][61]

After the war ended, the internees were transferred to Featherston military camp and from there 260 of them were deported back to Germany.[59] The island reverted to use as a human quarantine station.[62]

World War II internment camp edit

On 29 August 1939 Matiu / Somes Island was handed over from the Health Department to the Army and again shifted from quarantine station to internment camp, with the first group of internees arriving in late December 1939.[63] Internees included German and Italian residents of New Zealand and men from Pacific Islands plantations. By January 1942 there were also 45 Japanese internees who were New Zealand residents and fishermen from Suva. Tensions developed amongst the various national groups, in particular between German Nazis and German Jews.[35] As in World War I, there were allegations of ill-treatment of the men on the island. Three men escaped in November 1941 in a boat stolen from the island's caretaker and made it to the Akatarawa hills before hunger forced them out to buy food and they were rearrested.[64][65]

In 1942, the island was fortified with heavy anti-aircraft gun emplacements on the summit, but they were never used.[56] A large area was levelled for this construction, with the result that 17 metres (56 ft) was removed from the island's previous overall height. A degaussing station was built to provide protection for ships against magnetic mines.[66] Many of the physical features of these sites are present on the island today. The Swiss Consul protested that with military equipment on the island it had become a potential target, and that keeping prisoners in a potential conflict zone was against the Geneva Convention.[67] The Government moved the internees to a camp at Pahiatua, but in September 1944 this was needed for Polish refugee children so the prisoners were sent back to Matiu / Somes Island (apart from the Italians who had been allowed to return to their families after Italy signed an armistice in March 1944). At the end of the war the remaining internees were released and some were permitted to stay in New Zealand if they wished.[35][68][69] In 1995, Club Garibaldi, a Wellington social club for people of Italian origin, erected a monument listing 38 Italians who had been interned on the island during the war.[70][71]

Quarantine station to scientific reserve edit

From 1947 to 1995 the island was used as a quarantine station for livestock, with limited access to the public from 1981 onwards.[72] In December 1983, the island was still a maximum security animal quarantine station. However, over the 1983/84 summer period, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries agreed to allow day visits to the island by members of the public, limited to 120 visitors per open day. The visits were by permit only, and access to the quarantine station was not allowed. The day visits were co-ordinated by the Wellington Regional Council.[73]

Matiu / Somes Island came under the jurisdiction of the newly-formed Lower Hutt City Council in 1989[74]: 29  and came under the full control of the Department of Conservation (DOC) as a scientific and historic reserve in August 1995.[75]: 7 

Transfer of ownership edit

 
Waharoa (carved gateway) at Matiu / Somes Island

In 2009, ownership of the island was transferred to the Māori collective Taranaki Whānui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika. The transfer of ownership was part of cultural redress for Taranaki Whānui included in the settlement of their claims against the Crown for breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi.[76][77] Following the passing of the Port Nicholson Block (Taranaki Whānui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika) Claims Settlement Act 2009, the island is owned by the trustees of the Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust.[78][79] A kaitiaki (management) plan was prepared in 2012, to guide the administration of the island's scientific and historic reserves in accordance with the Reserves Act 1977.[75] A small team of rangers lives on the island to maintain facilities, manage visitors and volunteers, and monitor bait stations.[78]

A waharoa (carved gateway) named Tane Te Waiora was unveiled next to the wharf at the entrance to the island in 2017.[80]

 
Shag rocks at southern end of Matiu / Somes Island

Environmental restoration edit

Revegetation edit

In 1872, the island had few trees or shrubs.[81] Sheep were grazed and quarantined on the island from 1851 onwards.[82]: 12  During its time as a farm and quarantine station, much of Matiu / Somes Island was converted to pasture. The effects of grazing over a period of 125 years meant that by 1976 the island was mostly bare, with the exception of some exotic trees, including macrocarpa that had been planted for shelter. Native wildlife on the island was severely affected by the loss of habitat. In 1977, the Ministry of Works presented a landscaping plan to the Animal Health Division of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. The purpose of the plan was to provide screening and shelter of the accommodation and other buildings on the island, and to screen the oxidation ponds and rubbish dump. The plan proposed planting of a variety of native plants, along with more macrocarpa. A small number of trees were planted in 1977–78.[82]: 12–19 

At about the same time, members of the Lower Hutt branch of the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society became interested in revegetation of the island. They gained agreement to begin planting native plants on the island in the early 1980s.[83] Access to the island was still strictly controlled at that time, because it was still a high security animal quarantine station.[84] Over the period 1981–2008, the volunteers planted over 100,000 plants.[82]: 74 

Species introduced or reintroduced to Matiu / Somes Island include Cook's scurvy grass, northern rata, large-leaved milk tree, taupata, hebes, ngaio, and five finger.[84][85] A volunteer group known as the Karo Busters[86] spent ten years poisoning karo trees growing on the island, since this species does not occur naturally in the area.[83][87] Many of these projects have been supported by the community and the local Māori collective, Taranaki Whānui ki te Upoko o te Ika.

Pest eradication edit

Rats and mice were successfully eradicated between 1988 and 1989. In 1990, it was the largest island that had been cleared of ship rats.[82]: 37–38  There was a suspected intrusion by a mouse in 2012, but no further evidence was found. The Department of Conservation maintains a network of traps and tracking tunnels.[88][89]

Reintroduction of birds edit

 
 
 
Birds reintroduced to Matiu / Somes Island: kākāriki, top-left; little blue penguin, top-right; fluttering shearwater, bottom.

Red-crowned kākāriki (parakeets) from Kapiti Island were successfully re-introduced in 2003 and 2004, and remain a common sight on the island.[90][91] North Island robins sourced from Kapiti Island were released in April 2006. They bred for the first time in late September that year and this appeared to indicate that the island ecosystem was a suitable habitat for this species.[92] However, the robins did not thrive, possibly because the regenerating forest does not yet provide sufficient damp leaf litter year-round to sustain an adequate population of invertebrates as food.[82]: 67 

Little blue penguins breed on the island, and the population is closely monitored. Their numbers have increased significantly since the revegetation of the island. To help support penguin breeding, over 170 artificial nest boxes have been provided.[93] However, in the 2020/21 season, there was high mortality of penguin chicks, attributed to starvation caused by warmer sea temperatures making it more difficult for adults to find and catch fish. Normal chick mortality is around 11% but the figure for 2020/21 was 35%.[94]

Between 2012 and 2014, 237 fluttering shearwater chicks were translocated from the Marlborough Sounds to Matiu / Somes Island and hand-fed until they fledged. Some of the now-adult birds have since returned to the island and begun to breed. A solar-powered speaker system was installed to transmit fluttering shearwater calls each night, and has attracted wild birds to Matiu / Somes Island. This species is common in Wellington Harbour but there has been no local breeding population since pre-European times. They were once an important food source for local iwi.[95][96][97]

The island is also a stronghold for other seabirds including the spotted shag and black shag,[98][99] and the red-billed gull.[98]

Reintroduction of invertebrates edit

There are more than 500 species of invertebrates on the island, including three species of wētā. Wellington tree wētā were transferred to Matiu / Somes Island in 1996 and 1997, and 67 Cook Strait giant wētā were successfully transferred from Mana Island in 1996. A species of small ground wētā had survived on Matiu / Somes Island after deforestation.[100]

Reintroduction of reptiles edit

The island is now home to several species of native reptiles, including the common skink, spotted skink, copper skink and common gecko. Twenty-five forest geckos were transferred to the island in April 2005,[101] and more than 90 Wellington green geckos were released in several transfers between 2006 and 2013.[102] Two of these geckos were fitted with transmitters so that they could be monitored after release.[103] In 2015 the green geckos were confirmed to be breeding on the island.[104] Tuatara are known to have been living on Matiu / Somes island in the 1840s[105][106] but later died out. In 1998 the Brothers Island tuatara was released on the island, and by 2007 had begun breeding there.[107]

Matiu / Somes Island Charitable Trust edit

The Matiu / Somes Island Charitable Trust was established in 1999 and launched in March 2000 as a partnership between local iwi and the general community to help protect, nurture and enhance the island by raising funds for projects that increase biodiversity and enhance visitors' enjoyment of the island. Through its active arm, "The Friends of Matiu / Somes", it encourages community participation in work on the island. It also works closely with DOC and community groups such as Forest & Bird.[108][109]

Maintaining biosecurity edit

Visitors to the island are required to pass through the whare kiore ('rat house') building at the wharf at the northeast of the island after disembarking, to check their bags for pest animals, plants, seeds and soil.[80][90][110]

Transport edit

Scheduled ferry services from the Wellington CBD to Matiu / Somes Island and Days Bay operate as part of ferries in Wellington, landing at the main wharf at the northeast of the island. An electric ferry was introduced in 2022.[111] Visitors arriving in private boats may only land at the main wharf or nearby beach.[112]

In January 2024, the Kaitiaki Board governing the island announced that public access to the island would be closed for 6–8 months while the wharf was rebuilt.[113]

Tourism edit

Matiu / Somes Island is an increasingly popular tourist attraction and educational resource for local schools, with about 15,000 visitors per year. Visitors may stay overnight on the island in one of two houses managed by the Department of Conservation (Education House built in the 1970s or the historic caretakers' cottage), or in a tent at one of 12 campsites.[114][115][116]

Just to the north lies a much smaller island, Mokopuna Island. To protect endemic wildlife on Mokopuna Island – particularly nesting seabirds – landing by members of the public is prohibited.[112]

Lighthouse edit

 
Lighthouse with Wellington City in the background
Main article: Matiu / Somes Island Lighthouse

The Matiu / Somes Island lighthouse is a harbour navigation light for Wellington Harbour. It is a sector light, marking a safe approach through the harbour channel. The first lighthouse on the site was established in 1866. It was the first inner harbour lighthouse in New Zealand, and one of only eight lighthouses nationwide at that time. However, by 1895 there were multiple complaints that it was inadequate. A replacement lighthouse with a more powerful light was built on an adjacent site and commissioned on 21 February 1900. The light was automated on 1 April 1924 and converted to electricity after 1945.[117] The lighthouse is owned and operated by the Greater Wellington Regional Council.[118]

In the arts edit

Award-winning New Zealand novelist Maurice Gee's novel Live Bodies was set in part on Matiu / Somes Island, with the main character spending time interned there during the Second World War.[119]

Oscar Kightley is a Samoan-born New Zealand actor, television presenter, writer, journalist, director, and comedian. In 1998, he co-wrote and performed in a play, Eulogy, that was based on the story of Samoan and German prisoners interned on the island during the Second World War.[120]

New Zealand author of children's fiction Melanie Drewery's picture book for children, Papa's Island, tells the story of a family caught up in the internment of "enemy aliens" on Matiu / Somes Island.[121]

New Zealand author of fiction and non-fiction David McGill's spy novel The Death Ray Debacle is based on a true story about Victor Penny, an Auckland bus garage attendant and amateur radio enthusiast who in 1935 managed to convince government authorities that he could produce a 'death ray' that was capable of stopping an army, immobilising trucks, and bringing down enemy aeroplanes in flight. Penny was placed under the protection of defence authorities initially on Matiu / Somes Island and later at Fort Dorset, a military coastal defence battery in Seatoun.[122][123]

In 2013 Wellington theatre company Bard Productions staged an adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest on Matiu / Somes Island, with the boat journey across to the island forming part of the play. Scenes took place at the former animal quarantine station and in the open air.[124][125]

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ The eastern half of the North Island, from the Bay of Plenty to Wellington, has a Torlesse Composite Terrane basement.
  2. ^ Belongs to the order Foraminiferida; found in Torlesse Supergroup, Rakaia Terrane (North Otago, inland Canterbury, Wellington) and Taringatura Group (Southland); age range: Late Triassic (237-201 Ma); slender, tapering, slightly curved, cylindrical tube fossils; pale grey to white; smooth; commonly squashed with deformation fractures along tube length (20–70 mm long); up to 5 mm wide; original shell composed of agglutinated mineral grains; originally sticking upright in soft seafloor in deep water and filter feeding on plankton and suspended organic matter; the most common fossil found in greywacke.

References edit

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Further reading edit

  • Buchanan, Rachel (2011). "Re-making Memory on Matiu and Other 'Settlement' Sites". Memory Connection. 1 (1). Massey University: 284–300.
  • Burr, Val (1998). Somes Island Internment Camp for Enemy Aliens During the First World War: An Historical Enquiry (PDF) (MA). Palmerston North: Massey University.
  • Hansford, Dave (November 2005). "Matiu / Somes – secrets in plain view". Forest and Bird (318): 14–17.
  • McGill, David (2001). Island of Secrets: Matiu/Somes Island in Wellington Harbour. Wellington [N.Z.]: Steele Roberts & Silver Owl Press. ISBN 1-877228-37-0. OCLC 48397525.
  • Werry, Philippa (2011). "An Island in Time / School Journal Story Library / Instructional Series / English - ESOL - Literacy Online website - Instructional Series". instructionalseries.tki.org.nz. Retrieved 3 July 2022.

External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Matiu / Somes Island.
  • Matiu Somes Island Charitable Trust official website
  • "Somes Island 1845, drawing by William Swainson". NZETC. 1845.
  • Map of Somes Island in 1942, showing natural and man-made features and topography
  • Interview with author of book about First World War internees on Matiu/Somes Island at RNZ

April 11, 2024
matiu, somes, island, largest, three, islands, northern, half, wellington, harbour, zealand, island, hectares, acres, area, lies, kilometres, south, suburb, petone, mouth, hutt, river, matiu, māori, seen, from, mount, kaukaulocation, within, wellington, harbou. Matiu Somes Island is the largest of three islands in the northern half of Wellington Harbour New Zealand The island is 24 9 hectares 62 acres in area and lies 3 kilometres 1 9 mi south of the suburb of Petone and the mouth of the Hutt River Matiu Somes IslandMatiu Maori Matiu Somes Island as seen from Mount KaukauLocation of Matiu Somes Island within Wellington HarbourNearest cityWellingtonCoordinates41 15 29 7 S 174 51 55 4 E 41 258250 S 174 865389 E 41 258250 174 865389Area24 9 ha 62 acres Max elevation74 metres 243 ft DesignationHistoric reservescientific reserveDesignated1995Governing bodyHarbour Islands Kaitiaki BoardMatiu Somes Island was used as a place of refuge by pre colonial Maori Middens and other remnants of habitation have been found on the island There is also a long and varied European history The island was used for human quarantine from 1840 until the 1920s Ships arriving in Wellington Harbour with infectious passengers or crew would disembark them at Matiu Somes Island for care and treatment before berthing in the city During both World War I and World War II enemy aliens including long term residents of New Zealand who originated from enemy countries were interned on the island Anti aircraft gun emplacements were also built on the island during World War II and their remains can be seen today The island was used for animal quarantine from 1864 until 1995 A maximum security animal quarantine station was built in 1968 The island s environment had become degraded during its long period of use for quarantine and defence purposes However in 1981 work began to restore the forest cover Following more than 30 years of environmental restoration and the translocation of species the island is now home to many native birds invertebrates reptiles and plants Since 1995 Matiu Somes Island has been designated as a scientific and historic reserve For many years the public was banned from visiting the island due to its role as a human and animal quarantine station but visitors are now welcome and may stay overnight on the island In 2009 ownership of the island was transferred to the Maori collective Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika as part of the settlement of claims against the Crown for breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi The island is managed by the Department of Conservation Contents 1 Toponymy 2 Geography 3 Geology 4 History 4 1 Maori history 4 1 1 Archaeological sites 4 2 European history 4 2 1 Human quarantine 4 2 2 Animal quarantine 4 2 3 World War I internment camp 4 2 4 World War II internment camp 4 2 5 Quarantine station to scientific reserve 4 3 Transfer of ownership 5 Environmental restoration 5 1 Revegetation 5 2 Pest eradication 5 3 Reintroduction of birds 5 4 Reintroduction of invertebrates 5 5 Reintroduction of reptiles 5 6 Matiu Somes Island Charitable Trust 5 7 Maintaining biosecurity 6 Transport 7 Tourism 8 Lighthouse 9 In the arts 10 See also 11 Notes 12 References 13 Further reading 14 External linksToponymy edit nbsp Matiu Somes Island as seen from Normandale Lower HuttLegend has it that Matiu and the nearby Makaro island received their original Maori names from Kupe the semi legendary first navigator to reach New Zealand and return home with knowledge of the new land 1 2 He named them after his two daughters or in some versions of the tale nieces when he first entered the harbour around 1 000 CE 3 4 After European settlement the island was known for over a century as Somes Island In 1839 it fell under the control of the New Zealand Company along with much of the greater Wellington region 5 The island was renamed after Joseph Somes the company s deputy governor and financier at the time 6 In 1997 after 10 months of investigation and consideration of submissions by the public the New Zealand Geographic Board assigned the official bilingual name of Matiu Somes Island in recognition of the island s European and Maori histories 7 Ward Island was renamed as Makaro Ward Island at the same time Since then the board has adopted the formatting convention of placing a space before and after the slash so the official name is now written as Matiu Somes Island 8 9 Geography editThe island is 24 9 hectares 62 acres in area 10 and lies 3 kilometres 1 9 mi south of the suburb of Petone and the mouth of the Hutt River 11 Just off the northern tip of Matiu Somes Island lies tiny Mokopuna Island also known as Leper Island 12 The much smaller Makaro Ward Island is about 5 kilometres 3 mi southeast of Matiu Somes Island 13 nbsp Topographic map of Matiu Somes IslandA distinct gully runs from the south of the former quarantine station and terminates at the sea on the southern end of the island between two largely forested ridges on either side to the east and west 14 The gully floor forms a swamp but an ephemeral watercourse flows through it during periods of heavy rain A 1942 map shows a small dam across the creek 15 Despite being surrounded by sea water Matiu Somes Island has access to fresh water from the Waiwhetu artesian aquifer Water from the Hutt River infiltrates into porous gravels in the vicinity of Taita Gorge with between 3 8 and 5 7 million litres per hour flowing from the bed of the river into the underlying gravels between Taita Gorge and Melling South of Melling a layer of clay forms an impervious cap or aquiclude that holds the artesian water underground and causes it to build up pressure as it flows through the gravel layer southwards towards Wellington Harbour The pressurised water can rise to the surface if the fresh water layer is penetrated with a bore hole There are also artesian gravels beneath much of Wellington Harbour in some places hundreds of metres deep and they extend out to the present harbour entrance 16 58 59 17 22 23 The water level in the harbour was much lower 20 000 years ago and the ancient Hutt River used to flow down a paleochannel to the east of the Matiu Somes Island ridge as far as present day Kilbirnie 18 28 17 75 19 The Waiwhetu aquifer flows under the sea bed from the direction of the Hutt River to the harbour mouth via the paleochannel Matiu Somes Island gets its fresh water from a bore sunk into the aquifer just offshore at the main wharf In February 2016 the Department of Conservation temporarily restricted access to the island because a long dry summer had lowered the volume and pressure of water from the aquifer requiring strict water conservation 20 nbsp Rock arch and raised platform at the northern tip of Matiu Somes IslandThe island has three benches or platforms at 30 45 and 75 metres above the current mean sea level 18 18 The origin of these benches is uncertain Similar levels are found on various ridges around the harbour and the flat top of Makaro Ward Island corresponds to the 30 metre level 21 They are likely to be interglacial wave cut benches that have been uplifted No marine deposits have been found on the benches but it is possible that they result from a combination of fluvial processes and tectonic uplift 22 36 23 7 If they were wave cut benches any marine deposits have been eroded away The 1855 Wairarapa earthquake raised Matiu Somes Island by about 1 5 metres 24 The perimeters of both Matiu Somes and Mokopuna Island have shore platforms that were eroded by the sea prior to the 1855 earthquake There are some remnants of an earlier platform at 2 4 to 3 m above the present mean sea level A rock arch and platform at the northern end of Matiu Somes Island was formed by the action of the sea but was raised above sea level by successive earthquakes including the 1855 Wairarapa earthquake The arch now appears as a hole in the rock above sea level 22 49 Somes Rock is an underwater pinnacle off the southwest point of Matiu Somes island 25 26 Geology editFurther information Geology of the Wellington Region Matiu Somes Island and the surrounding landscape of Wellington is dominated by grey sandstone and darker mudstone sequences together commonly known as greywacke In the harbour surrounding the island the greywacke basement is overlain unconformably by solifluction debris and river gravels then shelly marine silts and finally artesian gravels that are capped with shelly marine silts 21 27 Matiu Somes Island is an uplifted block of greywacke a horst structure thought to be part of a drowned ridge pushed up between faults that run northeast southwest close to the west and east sides of the island 16 42 The faults extend from just offshore of Petone beach to about 1 km south of the island 28 The greywacke at Matiu Somes Island and the surrounding Wellington landscape is Late Triassic in age and assigned to the Rakaia Terrane one of several terranes that collectively make up the Torlesse Composite Terrane also known as the Torlesse Supergroup note 1 29 76 89 A tube fossil Torlessia mackayi note 2 30 has been found on the island Although it has not been formally identified it has been documented with an age range of 215 205 Ma Late Triassic 31 Tube fossils have also been found at other nearby locations such as Princess Bay and Sinclair Head along the shore platform of Wellington s south coast 32 33 History editMaori history edit During the 18th century Ngati Ira an East Coast iwi settled in Petone and around the eastern shores of the harbour They built two pa on the island but there was no permanent settlement on the island due to limited resources there 1 Ngati Mutunga and Ngati Tama from Taranaki drove Ngati Ira from their settlements in the 1820s 1 In November 1835 Ngati Mutunga people affiliated to Te Ati Awa seized the ship Lord Rodney at Wellington The crew were tied up and the Lord Rodney s captain John Harewood was forced or bribed to take a group of hundreds of Maori to the Chatham Islands 34 To ensure Harewood s compliance his chief mate was held hostage on Matiu Somes Island 35 36 There was no Maori occupation on Matiu Somes from about 1840 1 37 Archaeological sites edit At the northern end of the island on a site with steep cliffs there was the Te Moana a kura pa which contained terraces and middens 1 38 Haowhenua pa was built in the middle of the island where the quarantine station was sited but the only remaining sign of occupation is a midden 38 The midden which was underneath the hospital building was uncovered and excavated during building work in 1999 Faunal remains included shellfish species from the mainland fish and bird bones 37 European history edit nbsp NZ Department of Conservation buildingsAt various times throughout the 19th and 20th centuries the island hosted quarantine facilities for both human immigrants and animals and enemy alien internees during wartime Human quarantine edit In 1868 the island was declared a quarantine ground and used to isolate passengers from a ship carrying smallpox 39 When the immigrant ship England arrived in 1872 carrying several passengers with smallpox passengers and crew were quartered in makeshift accommodation on the island 40 On other occasions new arrivals would spend ten minutes in a smokehouse of chlorine potassium nitrate and sulphur fumes for de lousing 41 During the influenza pandemic of 1918 1920 a few people were quarantined on Matiu Somes Island but there was general agreement that the facilities were completely inadequate 42 43 44 The government then built accommodation for hundreds more people 45 In 1920 some passengers and crew from the ship Mahana were quarantined on Matiu Somes Island with scarlet fever but the quarantine station fell out of use after this 46 In 1935 the Government announced that it would reduce the number of quarantine beds on the island from 600 to about 50 47 but the Ministry of Health continued to restrict access to the island 35 74 In 1946 after World War II had ended the island was offered back to the Ministry of Health but it declined to retake control 35 121 Forty five people are known to be buried on the island mostly immigrants who arrived in the 1870s In 1971 individual gravestones were removed from the overgrown cemetery and replaced with a large memorial 48 49 In January 2000 four of the old headstones were retrieved from storage and placed next to the communal memorial 50 Animal quarantine edit Use of the island as an animal quarantine facility is recorded as early as 1864 when an advertisement in the Wellington Independent recorded that a man named James Sellars had been permitted to use it as a quarantine ground for his sheep 51 In 1889 Matiu Somes Island was declared as the first animal quarantine station in New Zealand 52 In 1892 the government established a Department of Agriculture to protect New Zealand s farming industry and in 1893 passed the Stock Act 53 54 The Stock Act 1893 gave the Department of Agriculture power to quarantine all live animals arriving in the country so it built permanent animal quarantine facilities on Matiu Somes Island in 1893 and at other locations for this purpose 52 In 1916 internees on the island built stables for the quarantine station 52 In 1968 the government built a maximum security animal quarantine station It had laboratories animal pens and other facilities for quarantining up to 35 cattle and 150 sheep and there were associated new homes for the workers and their families Other animals quarantined included goats alpacas llamas and deer The quarantine station was officially opened in December 1970 35 132 133 It closed in 1995 after in vitro fertilisation technology was developed making importation and quarantining of live breeding stock unnecessary 52 World War I internment camp edit nbsp Men on Somes Island c 1914 including interneesDuring World War I the island continued to be used for quarantining animals 55 but was also used for an internment camp which imprisoned about 300 enemy aliens Prisoners during this time included many German prisoners of war and suspected Danish imposter Hjelmar von Danneville 56 Other enemy aliens included German residents of New Zealand who were considered dangerous or who were reservists in the German or Austrian armies sailors who had been at sea when war broke out and Germans from Samoa 35 57 In March 1915 two prisoners escaped from the island by swimming to Petone 58 where they turned themselves in at a police station seeking to alert the authorities to allegedly poor treatment of internees 59 In July 1918 four men escaped on a raft made of wood with oil drums for buoyancy landing at Ngauranga one of the men died of exposure on the beach and the others were recaptured after seeking help 59 60 An inquiry was held towards the end of the war into numerous accusations of mistreatment of alien internees on the island 57 61 Although in general the inquiry report found an absence of evidence to support charges of ill treatment it did make some recommendations to improve conditions for internees and noted the use of disrespectful language by the camp overseer 57 61 After the war ended the internees were transferred to Featherston military camp and from there 260 of them were deported back to Germany 59 The island reverted to use as a human quarantine station 62 World War II internment camp edit On 29 August 1939 Matiu Somes Island was handed over from the Health Department to the Army and again shifted from quarantine station to internment camp with the first group of internees arriving in late December 1939 63 Internees included German and Italian residents of New Zealand and men from Pacific Islands plantations By January 1942 there were also 45 Japanese internees who were New Zealand residents and fishermen from Suva Tensions developed amongst the various national groups in particular between German Nazis and German Jews 35 As in World War I there were allegations of ill treatment of the men on the island Three men escaped in November 1941 in a boat stolen from the island s caretaker and made it to the Akatarawa hills before hunger forced them out to buy food and they were rearrested 64 65 In 1942 the island was fortified with heavy anti aircraft gun emplacements on the summit but they were never used 56 A large area was levelled for this construction with the result that 17 metres 56 ft was removed from the island s previous overall height A degaussing station was built to provide protection for ships against magnetic mines 66 Many of the physical features of these sites are present on the island today The Swiss Consul protested that with military equipment on the island it had become a potential target and that keeping prisoners in a potential conflict zone was against the Geneva Convention 67 The Government moved the internees to a camp at Pahiatua but in September 1944 this was needed for Polish refugee children so the prisoners were sent back to Matiu Somes Island apart from the Italians who had been allowed to return to their families after Italy signed an armistice in March 1944 At the end of the war the remaining internees were released and some were permitted to stay in New Zealand if they wished 35 68 69 In 1995 Club Garibaldi a Wellington social club for people of Italian origin erected a monument listing 38 Italians who had been interned on the island during the war 70 71 Quarantine station to scientific reserve edit From 1947 to 1995 the island was used as a quarantine station for livestock with limited access to the public from 1981 onwards 72 In December 1983 the island was still a maximum security animal quarantine station However over the 1983 84 summer period the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries agreed to allow day visits to the island by members of the public limited to 120 visitors per open day The visits were by permit only and access to the quarantine station was not allowed The day visits were co ordinated by the Wellington Regional Council 73 Matiu Somes Island came under the jurisdiction of the newly formed Lower Hutt City Council in 1989 74 29 and came under the full control of the Department of Conservation DOC as a scientific and historic reserve in August 1995 75 7 Transfer of ownership edit nbsp Waharoa carved gateway at Matiu Somes IslandIn 2009 ownership of the island was transferred to the Maori collective Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika The transfer of ownership was part of cultural redress for Taranaki Whanui included in the settlement of their claims against the Crown for breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi 76 77 Following the passing of the Port Nicholson Block Taranaki Whanui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika Claims Settlement Act 2009 the island is owned by the trustees of the Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust 78 79 A kaitiaki management plan was prepared in 2012 to guide the administration of the island s scientific and historic reserves in accordance with the Reserves Act 1977 75 A small team of rangers lives on the island to maintain facilities manage visitors and volunteers and monitor bait stations 78 A waharoa carved gateway named Tane Te Waiora was unveiled next to the wharf at the entrance to the island in 2017 80 nbsp Shag rocks at southern end of Matiu Somes IslandEnvironmental restoration editRevegetation edit In 1872 the island had few trees or shrubs 81 Sheep were grazed and quarantined on the island from 1851 onwards 82 12 During its time as a farm and quarantine station much of Matiu Somes Island was converted to pasture The effects of grazing over a period of 125 years meant that by 1976 the island was mostly bare with the exception of some exotic trees including macrocarpa that had been planted for shelter Native wildlife on the island was severely affected by the loss of habitat In 1977 the Ministry of Works presented a landscaping plan to the Animal Health Division of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries The purpose of the plan was to provide screening and shelter of the accommodation and other buildings on the island and to screen the oxidation ponds and rubbish dump The plan proposed planting of a variety of native plants along with more macrocarpa A small number of trees were planted in 1977 78 82 12 19 At about the same time members of the Lower Hutt branch of the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society became interested in revegetation of the island They gained agreement to begin planting native plants on the island in the early 1980s 83 Access to the island was still strictly controlled at that time because it was still a high security animal quarantine station 84 Over the period 1981 2008 the volunteers planted over 100 000 plants 82 74 Species introduced or reintroduced to Matiu Somes Island include Cook s scurvy grass northern rata large leaved milk tree taupata hebes ngaio and five finger 84 85 A volunteer group known as the Karo Busters 86 spent ten years poisoning karo trees growing on the island since this species does not occur naturally in the area 83 87 Many of these projects have been supported by the community and the local Maori collective Taranaki Whanui ki te Upoko o te Ika Pest eradication edit Rats and mice were successfully eradicated between 1988 and 1989 In 1990 it was the largest island that had been cleared of ship rats 82 37 38 There was a suspected intrusion by a mouse in 2012 but no further evidence was found The Department of Conservation maintains a network of traps and tracking tunnels 88 89 Reintroduction of birds edit nbsp nbsp nbsp Birds reintroduced to Matiu Somes Island kakariki top left little blue penguin top right fluttering shearwater bottom Red crowned kakariki parakeets from Kapiti Island were successfully re introduced in 2003 and 2004 and remain a common sight on the island 90 91 North Island robins sourced from Kapiti Island were released in April 2006 They bred for the first time in late September that year and this appeared to indicate that the island ecosystem was a suitable habitat for this species 92 However the robins did not thrive possibly because the regenerating forest does not yet provide sufficient damp leaf litter year round to sustain an adequate population of invertebrates as food 82 67 Little blue penguins breed on the island and the population is closely monitored Their numbers have increased significantly since the revegetation of the island To help support penguin breeding over 170 artificial nest boxes have been provided 93 However in the 2020 21 season there was high mortality of penguin chicks attributed to starvation caused by warmer sea temperatures making it more difficult for adults to find and catch fish Normal chick mortality is around 11 but the figure for 2020 21 was 35 94 Between 2012 and 2014 237 fluttering shearwater chicks were translocated from the Marlborough Sounds to Matiu Somes Island and hand fed until they fledged Some of the now adult birds have since returned to the island and begun to breed A solar powered speaker system was installed to transmit fluttering shearwater calls each night and has attracted wild birds to Matiu Somes Island This species is common in Wellington Harbour but there has been no local breeding population since pre European times They were once an important food source for local iwi 95 96 97 The island is also a stronghold for other seabirds including the spotted shag and black shag 98 99 and the red billed gull 98 Reintroduction of invertebrates edit There are more than 500 species of invertebrates on the island including three species of weta Wellington tree weta were transferred to Matiu Somes Island in 1996 and 1997 and 67 Cook Strait giant weta were successfully transferred from Mana Island in 1996 A species of small ground weta had survived on Matiu Somes Island after deforestation 100 Reintroduction of reptiles edit The island is now home to several species of native reptiles including the common skink spotted skink copper skink and common gecko Twenty five forest geckos were transferred to the island in April 2005 101 and more than 90 Wellington green geckos were released in several transfers between 2006 and 2013 102 Two of these geckos were fitted with transmitters so that they could be monitored after release 103 In 2015 the green geckos were confirmed to be breeding on the island 104 Tuatara are known to have been living on Matiu Somes island in the 1840s 105 106 but later died out In 1998 the Brothers Island tuatara was released on the island and by 2007 had begun breeding there 107 Matiu Somes Island Charitable Trust edit The Matiu Somes Island Charitable Trust was established in 1999 and launched in March 2000 as a partnership between local iwi and the general community to help protect nurture and enhance the island by raising funds for projects that increase biodiversity and enhance visitors enjoyment of the island Through its active arm The Friends of Matiu Somes it encourages community participation in work on the island It also works closely with DOC and community groups such as Forest amp Bird 108 109 Maintaining biosecurity edit Visitors to the island are required to pass through the whare kiore rat house building at the wharf at the northeast of the island after disembarking to check their bags for pest animals plants seeds and soil 80 90 110 Transport editScheduled ferry services from the Wellington CBD to Matiu Somes Island and Days Bay operate as part of ferries in Wellington landing at the main wharf at the northeast of the island An electric ferry was introduced in 2022 111 Visitors arriving in private boats may only land at the main wharf or nearby beach 112 In January 2024 the Kaitiaki Board governing the island announced that public access to the island would be closed for 6 8 months while the wharf was rebuilt 113 Tourism editMatiu Somes Island is an increasingly popular tourist attraction and educational resource for local schools with about 15 000 visitors per year Visitors may stay overnight on the island in one of two houses managed by the Department of Conservation Education House built in the 1970s or the historic caretakers cottage or in a tent at one of 12 campsites 114 115 116 Just to the north lies a much smaller island Mokopuna Island To protect endemic wildlife on Mokopuna Island particularly nesting seabirds landing by members of the public is prohibited 112 Lighthouse edit nbsp Lighthouse with Wellington City in the backgroundMain article Matiu Somes Island Lighthouse The Matiu Somes Island lighthouse is a harbour navigation light for Wellington Harbour It is a sector light marking a safe approach through the harbour channel The first lighthouse on the site was established in 1866 It was the first inner harbour lighthouse in New Zealand and one of only eight lighthouses nationwide at that time However by 1895 there were multiple complaints that it was inadequate A replacement lighthouse with a more powerful light was built on an adjacent site and commissioned on 21 February 1900 The light was automated on 1 April 1924 and converted to electricity after 1945 117 The lighthouse is owned and operated by the Greater Wellington Regional Council 118 In the arts editAward winning New Zealand novelist Maurice Gee s novel Live Bodies was set in part on Matiu Somes Island with the main character spending time interned there during the Second World War 119 Oscar Kightley is a Samoan born New Zealand actor television presenter writer journalist director and comedian In 1998 he co wrote and performed in a play Eulogy that was based on the story of Samoan and German prisoners interned on the island during the Second World War 120 New Zealand author of children s fiction Melanie Drewery s picture book for children Papa s Island tells the story of a family caught up in the internment of enemy aliens on Matiu Somes Island 121 New Zealand author of fiction and non fiction David McGill s spy novel The Death Ray Debacle is based on a true story about Victor Penny an Auckland bus garage attendant and amateur radio enthusiast who in 1935 managed to convince government authorities that he could produce a death ray that was capable of stopping an army immobilising trucks and bringing down enemy aeroplanes in flight Penny was placed under the protection of defence authorities initially on Matiu Somes Island and later at Fort Dorset a military coastal defence battery in Seatoun 122 123 In 2013 Wellington theatre company Bard Productions staged an adaptation of Shakespeare s The Tempest on Matiu Somes Island with the boat journey across to the island forming part of the play Scenes took place at the former animal quarantine station and in the open air 124 125 See also editList of islands of New ZealandNotes edit The eastern half of the North Island from the Bay of Plenty to Wellington has a Torlesse Composite Terrane basement Belongs to the order Foraminiferida found in Torlesse Supergroup Rakaia Terrane North Otago inland Canterbury Wellington and Taringatura Group Southland age range Late Triassic 237 201 Ma slender tapering slightly curved cylindrical tube fossils pale grey to white smooth commonly squashed with deformation fractures along tube length 20 70 mm long up to 5 mm wide original shell composed of agglutinated mineral grains originally sticking upright in soft seafloor in deep water and filter feeding on plankton and suspended organic matter the most common fossil found in greywacke References edit a b c d e Walton Tony Nester Richard May 2001 Matiu Somes Island Maori history PDF Department of Conservation Science amp Research Unit Department of Conservation Archived PDF from the original on 17 June 2022 Retrieved 17 June 2022 Charles Royal Te Ahukaramu 8 February 2005 Islands in Wellington Harbour Te Ara The Encyclopedia of New Zealand Archived from the original on 8 August 2022 Retrieved 18 June 2022 Thornber Lorna 30 May 2021 Kupe s voyage of discovery through Aotearoa still makes for an epic adventure Stuff co nz Archived from the original on 18 June 2022 Retrieved 18 June 2022 Smith S Percy 1910 Kupe The Navigator History and Traditions of the Maoris of the West Coast North Island of New Zealand Prior to 1840 New Plymouth Polynesian 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PDF Wellington Victoria University Archived PDF from the original on 24 September 2017 Retrieved 14 April 2023 a b McConchie Jack Winchester David Willis Richard eds 2000 Dynamic Wellington A contemporary synthesis and explanation of Wellington Wellington New Zealand Institute of Geography Victoria University of Wellington ISBN 0475110560 Ballance Alison 30 June 2017 The science of a water aquifer RNZ Archived from the original on 14 April 2023 Retrieved 14 April 2023 Freshwater supply shortage triggers partial closure of Matiu Somes Island www doc govt nz 24 February 2016 Archived from the original on 14 April 2023 Retrieved 14 April 2023 a b Stevens Graeme R 1974 Rugged landscape the geology of central New Zealand including Wellington Wairarapa Manawatu and the Marlborough Sounds Wellington AH amp AW Reed pp 186 190 200 ISBN 978 0 58900762 1 a b Turner Martin 1985 Geological features of the Wellington Region 2 ed Wellington Regional Council GeoSciences 2015 Annual Conference of the 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Evening Post ProQuest 314703875 Minister Launches Matiu Somes Community Trust Press release Scoop 3 March 2000 Archived from the original on 31 March 2023 Retrieved 31 March 2023 Wade Pamela 12 January 2019 World famous in New Zealand Matiu Somes Island Wellington Stuff Archived from the original on 22 May 2023 Retrieved 22 May 2023 Tso Matthew 17 November 2021 Wellington s electric cross harbour ferry just around the corner following sea trials Stuff Archived from the original on 11 June 2022 Retrieved 11 June 2022 a b Matiu Somes Island boat access www doc govt nz Archived from the original on 14 December 2022 Retrieved 14 December 2022 Matiu Somes to close to public for wharf rebuild The Post 15 January 2024 Retrieved 22 January 2024 Education House Matiu Somes Island www doc govt nz Archived from the original on 14 December 2022 Retrieved 14 December 2022 Matiu Somes Island Campsite www doc govt nz Archived from the original on 14 December 2022 Retrieved 14 December 2022 Caretakers Cottage www doc govt nz Archived from the original on 23 April 2023 Retrieved 23 April 2023 Walton Tony March 2001 Matiu Somes Island Lighthouse PDF Department of Conservation Archived PDF from the original on 14 June 2022 Retrieved 14 June 2022 Navigation aids Greater Wellington Regional Council Archived from the original on 28 March 2023 Retrieved 28 March 2023 Gee Maurice 1998 Live Bodies Auckland Penguin ISBN 978 0 14 027380 9 OCLC 1045667176 Archived from the original on 11 June 2022 Retrieved 11 June 2022 Houlihan Mike 2 March 1998 Strange stories of island internees Evening Post ProQuest 314580783 Drewery Melanie 2006 Papa s Island Fifi Colston Auckland N Z Reed ISBN 978 1 86948 594 8 OCLC 156753220 McGill David 19 July 2015 The death ray debacle Paekakariki Silver Owl Press ISBN 978 0 9922622 2 8 OCLC 914232606 Hindmarsh Gerard 9 August 2019 Death ray or bedtime story the curious case of Victor Penny Stuff Archived from the original on 3 July 2022 Retrieved 3 July 2022 Guest Bill 22 October 2014 The tempest on Matiu Somes Island 2013 teara govt nz Archived from the original on 3 September 2022 Retrieved 3 September 2022 A tempest off Matiu Somes Island Irreverent adaption cuts to an essence www theatreview org nz Archived from the original on 3 September 2022 Retrieved 3 September 2022 Further reading editBuchanan Rachel 2011 Re making Memory on Matiu and Other Settlement Sites Memory Connection 1 1 Massey University 284 300 Burr Val 1998 Somes Island Internment Camp for Enemy Aliens During the First World War An Historical Enquiry PDF MA Palmerston North Massey University Hansford Dave November 2005 Matiu Somes secrets in plain view Forest and Bird 318 14 17 McGill David 2001 Island of Secrets Matiu Somes Island in Wellington Harbour Wellington N Z Steele Roberts amp Silver Owl Press ISBN 1 877228 37 0 OCLC 48397525 Werry Philippa 2011 An Island in Time School Journal Story Library Instructional Series English ESOL Literacy Online website Instructional Series instructionalseries tki org nz Retrieved 3 July 2022 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Matiu Somes Island Matiu Somes Island Charitable Trust official website Somes Island 1845 drawing by William Swainson NZETC 1845 Map of Somes Island in 1942 showing natural and man made features and topography Interview with author of book about First World War internees on Matiu Somes Island at RNZ Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Matiu Somes Island amp oldid 1198839179, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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