The Quail Island was never permanently settled by the Maoris but Ngai Tahu and Ngati Mamoe
harvested kai moana and seabird eggs(hua) there form which it gained one of its names-
Otamahua- gathering place for eggs. Quail Island was given its European name in 1842 by
Captain William Mein Smith of the schooner Deborah. Smith wrote" Having reached the island
which rises about 250ft above the level of the harbour, I landed at a shelly beach and ascended
the hill in order to correct and complete my sketch. During my walk I flushed several quail and
from that circumstance I gave it the name Quail Island. It was not long after Smith's visit that
the little native quail or koreke, became extinct. Today the native quail of New Zealand has been
replaced by the more wordly and predator wise Californian quail. The first inhabitants of Quail Island
were Edward, Henry and Hamilton Ward, three young immigrants from a large Irish family. They
arrived in Lyttelton on December 16, 1850 aboard the Charlotte Jane, one of Canterbury's famous
"First Four" immigrant ships. These ships brought 773 new settlers to an area which had scarcely
300 European residents, effectively kick-starting the development of the province. In 1851 the Ward
brothers won the ballot for the island and he and his brothers began the task of farming it. They built
a cottage on the Northern slope overlooking Lyttelton. They milked cows and quickly found a niche
for themselves supplying dairy products to the colony. But tragedy was not long in catching up with
the Wards, only one month after moving into the cottage, the two older brothers, Edward and Henry,
having taken the boat to gather firewood on the mainland, capsized and drowned. Quail Island passed
through several private owners until sold to the Canterbury Provincial Governmant in 1874 for use as
a quarantine station-a facility the colony sorely needed. Ripapa Island was used to begin with but as
influx of immigrants increased additional accomodation and hospital facilities were built on Quail Island.
However, with the advent of the steamships making the journey from Europe to New Zealand in a
vastly shorter time, reduced the likelihood of on-board epidemics and the buildings on Quail were to
become redundant almost as soon as construction were completed. Two recorded uses of Quail Is.
quarantine facilities were for the Rakaia, in 1875, which had 11 deaths from mumps, scarlet fever and
measles aboard, and for the Cardigan Castle, which lost 13 of its 320 passengers. The quarantine
barracks were to see further use later. An outbreak of diptheria among the children from Lyttelton
Orphanage saw them temporarily isolated on Quail in 1879-1880, where conditions were suitable for
full recovery. The barracks of the quarantine station again saw use at the end of WWl, this time as a
convalescent home for survivors of the devastating Spanish influenza epidemic which killed more than
5500 New Zealanders, at a time when the young colony had a population of less than a million. In 1906,
the discovery in Christchurch of leprosy caused widespread consternation. Swift action was taken to
remove the man from the thoroughfares of the general public and deposit him in the disused human
quarantine station on Quail Is. Another sufferer arrived in 1908 and a third in 1909. At one point, 9
lepers were in residence in the "Leper Village" on the hillside above what is now a popular beach.
Quail was also an animal quarantine station as Christchurch was a strategic lauch point for the
expeditions to Antartica. Four major expeditions to the South Pole based their operations in Christchurch
and Lyttelton and found reason to utilise Quail Is. Robert Falcon Scott used Quail Is. for his Siberian
huskies. Ernest shackelton had 15 wild tempered Manchurian ponies broken in on Quail Is. for his 1907-08
expedition. Scott again used Quail Is. on the fateful 1910-13 Terra Nova expedition to hold and train the
19 ponies and 33 huskies that he took south on his last expedition. Mules provided by the Indian Army
also housed on Quail Is. and were taken south on Terra Novas second journey.15 Yukon huskies were
interned on Quail Is. for Commander Byrd's US Antartic Expedition of 1928-30.
There are lasting reminders of other aspects of local history, the western point of the island became
a site for disposal of unwanted ships. The remains of at least 13 ships rust their way to oblivion, abandon
here between 1902-1953. Quail Island's nautical association doesn't rest just with a graveyard for
unwanted ships. Early Maori recognised the value of the volcanic stone of the area, and so did the
Europeans who folloed them. Quarries were established at several sites on the island to supply ballast
and construction stones. Ballast for sailing ships returning unladen to foreign ports was obtained between
early 1850s and 1874 by quarrying basaltic rock on the north-western coast of the island, for which
hewers were paid four shillings a ton. Walkers Beach provided a unique industry for over 40 years, with
the Walker family harvesting the banks of cockle shells for sale as poultry grit to local farms.
In 1975 the farm lease was surrendered and it became a recreational facility reserve. A restoration
programme is developed restoring native vegetation in an attempt to recreate the now almost non-
existent forest vegetation that once characterised Banks Peninsual and coastal Canterbury.
Quail Island is today free from rabbits, cats and possums. Quail Island has the potential to become
another Tiritiri Matangi, the island restoration success in the Hauraki Gulf. Like Tiri, Quail Is. is on the
doorstep of a major city and offers opportunities for city folk not only to part take in a replanting scheme
but to see as a result of their efforts the re establishment of a range of species they might otherwise
never see in the wild. Quail Island is accesible through a ferry service from Lyttelton.