Quail island, also known as Otamahua which means "where the children go to collect sea eggs", used to be a quarantine island where the extremely sick people with things like measles and leaprosy would live. Animals used in trips to antartica would go there to train and be checked for any illnesses
Where is Quail island
History of Quail island
Quail island wasn't much use for Maori settlement as it had no rivers and you would have to go to the beach to get water but it was a good source of food.
It was brought by the Ward brothers in 1850 and they transported mulitple farm animals and wood so they can live and farm on the island. Unfortunatly towards the end the building process they drowned but this also meant that many introduced species now inhabited the island and this caused damage to the native flora and fauna.
They began to use it as a human quarantine for people mainly with leprosy. They also used it to quarantine dogs, ponies and other animals.
When steam boats were invented less people got sick which meant less people went to Quail island.
In present day a group of volunteers along with the Department of Conservation dedicate their time to restoring the island to its orginal native state which involves things like planting trees, helping the white flippered penguins find a home and keeping away many predators.
Links to our learning:
We went to Quail island so we can learn about how to keep our native flora and fauna alive and learn about the importance of looking after the land so that it is there for future generations.
Reflecting back on the trip I believe I learned a lot about how to keep the environment alive even though for most of the trip I was tired and my body was extremly sore, I shall ever forget the experince.
