The Hermit of Island Bay was a well-known personality, and somewhat of a tourist attraction, at the end of the 19th century in Wellington, New Zealand.[1]
The cave used by the hermit
His name is recorded as "Persse" by several newspapers of the time,[2][3] and as "William Persse" by a biographer.[4]
The Hermit lived for 17 years in a cave beside the southern coast, in Island Bay, close to Houghton Bay. The cave had a single opening, through which smoke from his fire exited.[5]
Many tourists approached his cave and interacted with the Hermit, who is reported to have been neither pleased nor unhappy with the attention.[6]
His cave was boarded up and partially destroyed when Queens Drive was built in 1894.[7]
An oil painting, depicting the Hermit in his cave beside his fire, is held in the collection of the national museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa.[8]
^Evening Post, Volume XXVIII, Issue 133, 2 December 1884, Page 3
^Star , Issue 6248, 4 August 1898, Page 1
^Star, Issue 6215, 1 August 1898, Page 3
^The Hermit of Island Bay / by Pat Hutchison
^Dominion Post
^Colonist, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4261, 6 October 1885, Page 4
^Hermit made way for coastal tour
^Object: The hermit of Island Bay
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