Mokopuna Island


Mokopuna Island is a small island in Wellington Harbour, New Zealand. It is about on its long axis and about across. It lies immediately north of the much larger Matiu/Somes Island, from which it is separated by a channel about wide.
A number of wave-cut arches and caves line the shore. Today, Mokopuna is a bird reserve where gulls and blue penguins nest and where no landings are allowed.

History

For about three months in 1904, one of these caves was the home of one Kim Lee, a Cantonese fruiterer who had been diagnosed—possibly mistakenly—as a leper. Even though Matiu/Somes was the human quarantine station at the time, Lee was exiled to Mokopuna, where he was supplied with food and water by a flying fox from Matiu/Somes. Lee died on Mokopuna on 14 March 1904 and was buried on Matiu/Somes.