Wānaka’s Jewel - Ruby Island
Ruby Island is a small (3.16 ha) picturesque island, not far from the Wānaka lakefront (about 1.7km), and has an interesting history. No one knows for sure why it was eventually named Ruby but perhaps its shape like a teardrop-jewel has something to do with it.
Referring to newspaper articles published during the 1870 to 1918 period, including one written by the well-known local historian, George M Hassing, before it was called Ruby Island, it had been called:
Matakitaki (translates to mean ‘to gaze upon’)
Merino Island (other islands in the lake were called Sheep Island and Ram Island)
Roys Island (named after one of the earliest settlers)
Eeley’s Island
The last name appears in newspaper articles in the 1870/80s and later on. It possibly originates because a gentleman named Banks Hokanson (locally known as “Old Eeley”) apparently leased the island at some stage. The newspaper articles are, admittedly, a bit confusing.
It is in January 1885 that the first use of the name, Ruby Island appears in a newspaper. It is in an advertisement in which the Wanaka Progress League is involved, advertising a tourist excursion around Lake Wānaka.[1] Before this the Wanaka Progress League had used the name Eeleys island (September 1884) but they had just been granted funds and use of the Island, by the Government, to plant it in an ornamental and serviceable manner.”[2] It would appear that it was renamed for ”marketing” purposes to attract travellers.
Ruby Island’s main claim to fame today is as a picnic place, tourist stop on lake tours and as a wedding place. There are some facilities on the island for visitors but there is a complete fire ban (apart from the supplied barbeque). Fires over the past 150 years destroyed the natural habitat, the last fire taking place in the early 1990s. Rabbits also caused havoc to the native vegetation way back in the 1880s despite the efforts of hawks and ferrets).[3] Fortunately, many volunteers have turned out to replace the destroyed vegetation. Some of the early plantings were not exactly native fauna – “Ruby Island, under the care of the Wanaka Domain Board, is a favourite resort for picnic parties, and the strawberry plants plentifully strewn across its surface add greatly to its attractiveness during the season. This season’s crop will be an unusually prolific one judging by the blossom scattered through.”[4]
A move by three local businessmen to develop Ruby Island for tourists led to the Saturday night Ruby Island Cabarets that became the source of many legends among older Wānaka folk. The Cabaret was operated in the main by the Hunt family from 1927 to 1930. Sybil Hunt, the wife of John Hunt, recalled for Ian McCrone in a newspaper article in 1982, that her husband got a permit to build a dance floor etc on the island and a 10 year lease. From the sawmills in the Makarora area, they got beech tree trunks for the roof pillars and timber for the dance floor. The logs were towed down the lake because of the lack of roads.
Ruby Island Cabaret, c.1930
The following is quoted from his articles:
“There was a kitchen, a small shop, a one-time navy chef who had also worked at the hotel at Wanaka.”
He did all the cooking on an old Perfection kerosene stove,” Mrs Hunt says, “it was a three-burner with three funnels heating three different plates at the top. “On one side he’d make pikelets, on the next girdle scones and on the third he’d put a wee oven and cook the ordinary scones.”
“And they got jam and cream …. I made the jam and the Devonshire cream came from Wanaka Station, where they had a dairy herd.”
The 40 x 50-foot dance floor was sprung in the tradition of all good dancing surfaces in those days – “when you got 100 people on it, you’ve no idea how it bounced.”
Fancy dress parties became a New Year feature of the Ruby Island Cabaret with up to 200 people attending. Technically they were “dry” affairs. But some patrons brought their own supplies.
Word got around that there was liquor on the island and the village policeman use to lurk behind a willow tree on the waterfront and hop aboard a departing launch just as it cast off.
“He thought he would be sure to catch them, but he never did,” Mrs Hunt says. “Years later, my husband told him frankly how he had not found any liquor. Although he looked at the riding lights and things, he never looked at many masthead lights John had going. We always kept a lookout on the island …. If they saw that the masthead light was dimmed down, with just one light instead of two, they knew the bobby was on board.”
The tea dances became so popular that a third launch, the Aotea was brought on to help maintain a shuttle service to the island during the summer months.
With the help of a Dunedin electrician, the Hunts devised a novel system of providing dance music. Amplifiers were rigged up to a gramophone. Mrs Hunt stood by to keep the machine wound up and to change the records.
Power for the sound system and lighting from jetty to dance floor was provided by old car batteries and a generator.
For the New Year’s Eve parties, McNamara’s Band use to come up from Cromwell.
Missing the last boat home could prove a costly business but was not entirely uncommon. “There was always a warning siren about half an hour before the last boats were due to go back to the mainland.” Mrs Hunt says.
“There was another siren 10 minutes before and we would wait another 10 minutes after that time was up. Anyone who was still in the bushes just had to stay there. If they wanted to be taken off they had to light a fire. If we saw it, we would go out and pick them up, provided they paid treble the fare. That was fair enough, I think.”
The venture ran successfully for three years, until John Hunt decided to go into farming at Maungawera.
It would seem that the island reverted to bush and the occasional fire (1970s and 1990s) but an extensive planting project by local residents following the 1990s fire helped the island become what it is today.
[1] Advertisements- Grand Excursion, Lake County Press 22 January 1885, Page 2.
[2] Forest Denudation, Otago Daily Times, 20 sept 1884, Page 1.
[3] Lake County Press 28 Jun 1888.
[4] Wanaka Notes, Otago Daily Times, 27 November 1928.
Listen to Ann Trevathan’s first-hand account of the Ruby Island Cabaret here:
