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Story: Nearshore islands

Ōtamahua (Quail Island)

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Ōtamahua (Quail Island)

Christchurch’s port of Lyttelton had a quarantine station – at first on Rīpapa Island and then from 1875 on Ōtamahua (Quail Island). The hospital is the large, two-storey building in this 1911 photograph. To the left among the trees are huts that were occupied by leper patients.

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Christchurch City Libraries

Reference: PhotoCD 2, IMG0090

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How to cite this page

Eileen McSaveney, Nearshore islands – Quarantine centres and prisons, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/13030/otamahua-quail-island (accessed 5 June 2026).

Story by Eileen McSaveney, published 1 March 2009.