Life on Motuopuhi (Rat Island)

Guest article by Max Avery

Many may have looked with envy on the possibility of a Robinson Crusoe-like existence on a deserted Pacific Ocean island. Closer to home, in the Tauranga Harbour, that lonely life became a reality for William and Ethel O’Halloran when, about 1930, they took up residence on tiny Motuopuhi (Rat) Island, just off the Turret Rd foreshore.

Because of its proximity to the mainland, the island may appear to be readily accessible - and so it is , at low tide. At high tide, however, a channel a little more than two metres deep proves an effective defensive moat for inhabitants, and a barrier to prospective visitors.

Standard 4, Tauranga District High School, 1940
(Noeline O'Halloran, fourth row, second from left)
Image courtesy of Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī, Ref. 02-239

So, what sort of a life did the couple face for the next 30 years, and how did they cope with it? We have, luckily, a manuscript penned by their grand-daughter, Noelene Smillie, and lodged in Tauranga City Archives, She explains that her grandfather, a farmer and racehorse trainer, had suffered severe renal failure and been told that he must take life more quietly and importantly, avoid alcohol at all times. Motuopuhi seemed the perfect prescription. The island was private, without easy access, complete with rudimentary house and was available in return for a nominal rental and caretaking duties - the control of scrub growth, rodents and junior arsonists, and breeding pens of quail and pheasants for the local acclimatisation society.

What Motuopuhi did not have was electricity, telephone communication and a  fresh water supply. The hardy couple made do for 30 years with kerosene lamps, their battery-powered radio gave them a link to the outside world, (visitors had to yell “Coooo-eeee” from Turret Road to attract attention), their manuka-fired Dover stove supplied heat for cooking and hot water, and in times of drought, when their rainwater supply from the roof failed, they tediously transported containers of water from the mainland in a tar-covered craft known as the Black Boat.

Motuopihi (Rat Island), Bay of Plenty Times, 9 June 1961
4x5" cellulose triacetate negative (damaged)
Image courtesy of Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī, Ref. gcb-152

Interestingly while Motuopuhi had no fresh water, Will O’Halloran told his family that he had no doubt that there was a mineral spring below the surface, detected with a home-made triple-pronged divining rod, which granddaughter Noelene also proved. (She later heard a rumour that the Hilton Hotel chain planned a mineral-spa hotel on the island.)

Motuopuhi was indeed lacking in what even then were common amenities, but when it came to living off the land the island was a paradise. Noelene wrote: “A colourful abundance of beautiful flowers and shrubs cradled the silver-grey weather-beaten dwelling. The gardens were bright whatever the season. Lillies, daisies, dozens of dahlia, hollyhocks, delphinium, carnations, love-in-the-mist, thrift, honesty, rose bushes, and spring bulbs. Beyond the flower beds loomed the orchard, a massive plum tree towering over the cottage, a fig tree, peaches, apples, nectarines, citrus fruits, grapes, gooseberries and luscious red wineberries. All of these, and vegetables, did well in the sheltered environment.”

The harbour provided the O’Hallorans with many a meal, Noelene remembered: “Most of the male visitors were drawn by the fishing. A couple of hours netting around the island provided enough flounder to make a large pile on a handy sandbank. They were then gutted and strung into a bundle of flax. Some were to be sold, many to be given away. Other fish too - kahawai, millet, kingfish, even snapper, occasionally a ‘whopper’ like the 18-pounder my teenage brother hooked on a settling. It was not long before Will accepted the efficiency of the outboard motor and got one for himself. This made his whitebait forays much easier. He could go under the Harini Bridge, across the estuary and up the Waimapu River in a quarter of the time. In the season the arrival of the Ford on our front lawn with a kerosene tin full of the minute fish was a common sight.”

Extract from Bay of Plenty Jockey Club programme, 1916
Image courtesy of Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī, Ref. Ams 12/5/5

Her mention of the Ford requires an explanation. Will O’Halloran owned Model T Ford motorcars throughout his life on Motuopuhi Island. He kept them in a garage on Turret Road and used them to get himself and Ethel into Tauranga township after negotiating the channel in the Black Boat. Noelene remembered: “His precious Ford! Will’s pride and joy! His mighty steed that took them both to race meetings at Te Rapa, Paeroa and Rotorua, over the Kaimai and Mamaku Ranges, conquering muddy roads, ice, and sometimes snow with the help of clanking chains. There had been a succession of them, always a Ford. We, my brother and I were not permitted to call our grandfather’s cars Lizzies. His last, and loveliest model was a ’T' which went to a collector across the Tasman in the late fifties.”

Will and Ethel O’Halloran found the quiet life they had been looking for on Motuopuhi, and Will regained his health, exercising his expertise in growing vegetables, pruning fruit trees and fishing, while blackbirds, kingfishers, gulls, shags, pied stilts and even moreporks flew around. He had built a substantial letter-box on Turret Road, and it was from this point that visitors “Cooo-eeed:”, and if they were lucky, were transported across the channel in the Black Boat. However, much as they enjoyed family and friends visiting, it was the quiet life they really relished, and it was a sad day when, due to old age and increasing medical emergencies, a move in the late 1950s to a Tauranga Hospital Board cottage in 15th Avenue near Turret Road was necessary.

Motuopuhi was so near, yet so far, and as Noelene noted: “The noise of the close traffic, door-to-door salespeople, unexpected visitors knocking on the door and using electric appliances was all new, and they found it difficult to settle.”

Caption for Tauranga DHS photo: Back row from left: Neville Gilmore-Rogers; Bob McGilp; Brian Fisk; Cliff Anquetil; Oswald McQuillan; Ivan O'Brien; Robin Green; Dennis McShane; Owen Mackay; Ray Snowden Second row: Pat Lowe; Val White; Brian Hartley; Owen Moxham; Neville Berridge; Brian Wenz lick; Huia Sutherland; Keith Holloway; David Auld; Margaret Webb; Audrey Kerridge Third row: Doreen Pemperton; Marie Pope; Pat Ridder; Shirley Willoughby; Ruth-Alice Gresham; Elva Jarvis; Joan Brewer; Freda Watkins; Margaret Jefferson; June Johnson; Fay Hunter; Ramona Potter Fourth row: Margaret Gaulton; Noelene O'Halloran; Dorothy Snow; Marie Lucas...ski [sic]; Jean Taylor; Diana Jordan; Myra Kivell; Betty Parkinson; Margaret Evans Front row: Joan Clark; Len Thompson; Geoff Woods; Ross Manson; Jim Bongard; Frank Robinson; Balfour Jacobson; Ruth Bryan