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Tales of Banks Peninsula

No. 9.—Island Bay

page 309

No. 9.—Island Bay.

There are interesting associations of the past in this bay, lying, as it does, over that rugged coast, between Piraki and Land's End, as the west bead of the harbour is called. It receives its name from a towering rock guarding the entrance, and rising up out of the troubled waters like an old castle. The bay is lonely and deserted, and the traces of those who lived there long ago are fast disappearing. It is open to the sou'-west, and heavy seas roll in there at times, as the cave worn sides and the heaps of smooth boulders on the beach testify well. Island Bay was inhabited by whalers in the early days: those brave men who lived hard lives and thought danger a pleasure. Since the whales left the coast the bay has been deserted and lonely.

The Maoris had a pah here. Traces of their stone walls and huts are still to be seen, and greenstone to be found. The writer picked up a small chisel of this substance, and many handsome implements formed of it have been discovered from time to time. The Maoris, io fact all of them along this coast, were a wild race, Horrible stories are told of their cannibalism, and some of the white men earliest in the bays have witnessed their ungodly feasts. When the Maoris wanted to settle a quarrel they went about it in quite a businesslike manner. Over they went to Wakamoa, the next bay towards the Heads, and after they had had enough and buried their dead, came home. The ridges, graves of many a stalwart warrior, are conspicuous yet. The Natives living in Island Bay had a fine natural fortress, for it was almost impregnable. Thick heavy bush behind, steep walls on either side (for it was quite a stiff climb into the bay), and a beach on which it is comfortable to land only when the weather is fine. A slip while climbing the rocky sides would be dangerous. A story is told of a Maori woman who was collecting firewood on the spur. She tied a bundle to her back and commenced to descend; slipping, she rolled from the top to the bottom, and little life was page 310left in her when she stopped roiling. The cheese from Mr Macphail's dairy, before the road was made, was carried down on men's backs to the beach. owever they did it is a puzzle, and a very few trips up and down would satisfy an ordinary Hercules. When climbing the side, and thinking of it, one fancies that it would have been a great temptation to let them roll in spite of all consequences, The bay, however, is little visited except by the cattle on the runs. There is a fine creek running down the valley, though on the tops of the spurs the land is very parched in summer.

About 1840 whaling stations were established along the coast, at Ikeraki, Peraki, Oauhau, and Island Bay. Whales were plentiful at that time, and there was always plenty of employment for the boats of the whalers. Two large boilers, set in stone, are still in the bay, and there were others, which have disappeared. There is also an arrangement for hauling the whales on shore, fixed on the same principle as the capstan of a ship. Heaps of whalebone litter the beach and the sides of the creek. A great quantity of it has, it is said, been carried away to bone dust factories. Staves of innumerable casks are piled up around the boilers. One can imagine the wild scene the bay presented on some dark night, from the sea, when the whalers were busy boiling down, the fires blazing up, and showing their forms distinctly against the background of heavy bush The stormy seas which frequently roll into the bay show signs of having been far up the creek, where lie embedded great pieces of whalebone.

Messrs W. Green (after whom Green's Point is named), C. Brown and Hall were the first owners of the Island Bay fishery. After leaving the station, Charlie Brown went away in a whaling vessel never afterwards heard of, and supposed to have been wrecked on the coast. Hall left Akaroa one day in a whaleboat with a quantity of provisions for the bay. The boat and its crew were never seen again. It is supposed that they got fast to a whale and were capsized, as the last time the boat was seen, it was close to one that was spouting about the head of the page 311harbour. The next owner of the fishery was Mr. George Rhodes, brother of Mr Robt. Rhodes. Sam. Williams, commonly known as Yankee Sam, whaled for him. When the gold diggings broke out in Melbourne, be went there. Mr James Wright, the hearty old Baron of Wakamoa, got the try pots from him, and whaled there until the persecuted whales left these waters to seek some quieter home. At times when a school of whales appeared the whole coast was very busy. About thirty boats were often out. Casks were bought at Lyttelton, and when filled at the bay were sent back again in small vessels. The Maoris were employed on the stations, and some of them were expert whalers.

No wrecks have actually occurred in Island Bay itself. A brig was lost between it and Land's End over twenty years ago, and all hands drowned She was laden with timber, great quantities of it floating up Akaroa Harbour. Snufflenose, where the ill fated Clyde was lost, is a little way round the coast towards Piraki It isbelieved that other vessels have met their fate on this point, as wreckage has been found from time to time. There would be little hope for mariners whose vessel dashed on the rocks under those cliffs on a wild night, for the wind blows with terrific force into the bight, and it has been supposed that a current gets into it from the open ocean, so that the danger was fearful indeed before the lighthouse was erected

The spurs slope gently down from the tragic Bossu, connected with so many weird disappearances and [unclear: mysterious] horrors. The extent of the country on that side of the hill surprises one who has just come up the steep side that rises from the harbour. There is much ploughable land there—thsusands of acres—and all of the settlers in those parts grew tbeir fields of oats and vegetables in ploughed land. The residents in Island Bay at that time were:—Messrs James Wright, Macphail, Niblett and Randall. The property formerly occupied by Mr A. C. Knight was afterwards farmed by Mr Randall. The Baron of Wakamoa was the first to settle in the bay. After him came Mr J. McKinnon, who lived on the property now page 312owned by Mr. Macphail, Mr. H. Niblett was next, and Mr. Randall arrived later. The land is very valuable for dairying purposes, and for pasturing sheep and cattle. The settlers now have a road as good as any on the Peninsula, and the difficult labour of shipping from the bay is done away with, as they can easily cart their produce to Wainui. It was to Mr Macphail's house the survivor of the Clyde came, that being the nearest to the scene of the catastrophe

The view from Mt. Bossu is a grand one—on one side the harbour, on the other the bight, across which are seen the snow clad Alps, and, terminating the coast, the waters of Ellesmere. There are many picturesque spots in the bay, and the bracing winds from the open ocean make it a healthy place. There is a waterfall close to Island Bay two hundred feet high, which is a grand sight.