The Hermit of Island Bay explained

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]

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]

Notes and References

http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP18841202.2.30 Evening Post, Volume XXVIII, Issue 133, 2 December 1884, Page 3
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=TS18980804.2.25 Star, Issue 6248, 4 August 1898, Page 1
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=TS18980801.2.39.2 Star, Issue 6215, 1 August 1898, Page 3
http://innz.natlib.govt.nz/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=649587 The Hermit of Island Bay / by Pat Hutchison
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/local-papers/the-wellingtonian/10432955 Dominion Post
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=TC18851006.2.18 Colonist, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4261, 6 October 1885, Page 4
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/local-papers/the-wellingtonian/10432955/Hermit-made-way-for-coastal-tour Hermit made way for coastal tour
http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/41290 Object: The hermit of Island Bay