20/09/2026
🕰️ Today in QIKT history 🕰️ - In September 1932, the Oreti was sold to Bob Miller.
The Oreti, first called the Baden-Powell, was a wooden steamship built in Australia in 1902. In 1924, the Oreti came to Ōtepoti and was used to carry timber up from Southland.
In 1932, Robert (“Bob”) Miller, who lived and worked on QIKT at the time, bought the Oreti for use as a hulk
You can now see the wooden remains of the Oreti alongside the QIKT jetty, where her keel and ribs are visible at low tide.
Please remember that the Oreti is at QIKT to rest, and is fragile and sharp, so please keep off!
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Research credits:
‘Quarantine Island/Kamau Taurua (St Martin Island)– A Short History’ by Lyndall Hancock, 2008
Quarantine Island Kamau Taurua. https://quarantineisland.org.nz/
Evening Star, Issue 21211, 19 September 1932, Page 12
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19320919.2.107.3
Image credits:
1 - Rawson, S. H. (1904-1915). Oreti and Putiki, Wesport [View showing the steam ships Oreti and Putiki moored along the shoreline of Westport Harbour, with dockworkers and deckhands visible on shore and aboard the vessels]. Hocken Collections.
2 - Otago Daily Times, Issue 27206, 8 October 1949, Page 9 https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19491008.2.149.1
3 - Evening Star, Issue 21211, 19 September 1932, Page 12
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19320919.2.107.3
