Mullogh Brings First Steam Locomotive to Canterbury

Did you know this island has a human history as rich as any of New Zealand's smaller islands, despite being only 80 hectares?

You're on Quail Island, which is near the head of Lyttelton Harbour, just south of the port. It's so close to the mainland that it's hard to tell it's a separate landmass from some spots. Geologically, it’s part of the crater floor of the Banks Peninsula volcano. You can see layered basalt lava flows over and under conglomerates, forming the northern cliffs. A basalt dome is above the east-facing wharf. Slightly older rhyolite, from 11-12 million years ago, formed the gentler southern faces.

The island wasn't permanently settled by Maori, but Ngai Tahu and Ngati Mamoe gathered seafood and seabird eggs here. That's how it got one of its names, Otamahua, which means "gathering place for eggs." By the time Europeans arrived, the local Maori population was lower due to intertribal warfare.

Captain William Mein Smith gave the island its European name in 1842. He was surveyor-general for the New Zealand Company and was looking for settlement sites. He visited the island while investigating Port Cooper, which is what Lyttelton was called then. He wrote that he landed at a shelly beach and walked up the hill to complete his sketch. During his walk, he flushed several quail, and that’s why he named it Quail Island.

The native quail, or koreke, became extinct not long after Captain Smith's visit. They were once common in Canterbury's grasslands, including here, but new predators brought by European settlers quickly ravaged their populations. Today, the native quail have been replaced by Californian quail.

The first European inhabitants of Quail Island were three brothers, Edward, Henry, and Hamilton Ward, who arrived in Lyttelton in December 1850. They were on the *Charlotte Jane*, one of Canterbury’s “First Four” immigrant ships, which brought 773 new settlers to an area that had only about 300 European residents. Edward, at 25, was a lawyer and a magistrate. In early 1851, he won the ballot for the island, and the brothers started their work here.