In his 1977 book Hot Water Country Life and leisure in New Zealand's volcanic wonderland , author Ross Annabell included details of his own two trips to White Island and doubted that it would become a regular tourist attraction.
By Peter Simon
When I lived in New Zealand in the l960s and journeyed into the Bay of Plenty a single plume of steam rising high into the sky was often seen coming from White Island . It was not uncommon for someone to utter the prediction that White Island would " blow " one day . It was even said to be the North Island's "safety valve ".
I first met Ross Annabell on the Rotorua Post , in the very centre of the hot water part of the North Island . He was a first class feature writer, had reported on newspapers in Mackay, Mount Isa ( started the paper there ) , Darwin and Sydney and with the ABC. For experience , he had worked as "a cook and bottle washer " on Great Barrier Reef fishing boats .
His first trip to White Island had been with Maori muttonbirders . The second with a Rotorua tramping and skiing club of which he was a member . Both were described in colourful detail in the book , full of great research about the volcanic island...2.5km long by 2kmwide , rising to about 321m at its highest .The highest scientific reading on a beach there had been 900degrees centigrade . There was an eruption when a group visited the island in the l970s.
The island was supposedly sold by Maoris to two British army officers, later killed in the Maori wars, for two hogsheads of rum . It then reverted to Crown ownership and later given to Whakatane settlers in l867.
Scientists said the island was apparently the remains of a much larger cone which blew itself to bits or settled under the sea. A really big explosion could let the sea in -with possibly devastating effects , he wrote .
Europeans had first set foot there in 1826. Early seafarers had reported seeing " flames by night " , or " black smoke by day in the sky ", as far back as l838.
In l885 a party reported a " solid column of flame " spouting 240m high from a vent in the crater , and in l886 a ship reported a " glare of fire " followed by a " ball of fire which rose and burst into stars . "
Sulphur was mined on the island , some of it shipped to Sydney , and in 1914 , a boat from Auckland which loaded the sulphur and brought supplies for the 11 miners arrived to find an eerie situation - everybody missing , apparently buried or swept into the sea by a volcanic lahar , only the camp cat alive .
A sulphur factory was built there in the l920s . After years of ups and downs , London investors becoming involved, the Depression , it was finally sold to Imperial Chemical Industries of England for $120,000 , liquidated in 1933.The factory building collapsed, metal parts eaten away by the toxic and corrosive gases from the fumaroles .
Auckland sharebroker John Buttle , former chairman of the Auckland Stock Exchange, bought the island by tender . Ross wrote that some people had talked of the potential of a tourist hotel on the island , but he felt it could be a long time before White Island excursions were regularly on the tourist calendar because of the distance from shore and the exposed nature of the only beach entrance . A hovercraft or a helicopter could be a safe means of access , he suggested .
White Island inspired a short story in an early literary magazine about an eruption in which the struggle to survive included diving into the sea and facing possible shark attack .
Ross and I climbed Mount Tarawera capped with volcanic scree and slid down into its hot crater. It erupted in l886 , killing more than 150 , with such a loud explosion that in far away Auckland people ran about saying it was Russians invading . We also clambered up a plateau which , according to Maori legend, has a cliff which steams whenever a disaster is imminent.
A Townsville resident is known to have studied the geology of White Island some years ago and has a collection of photographs from her time there .
