Duncan Watson - from Motutapu Outdoor Education Camp with Host Liz Gunn
It was a pleasure to have Duncan Watson speaking to us on Thursday night. His knowledge and detail about Motutapu Island was so very descriptive and interesting.
Duncan kept us riveted to our seats while he provided us with so many tales of what happened on Motutapu Island all those years ago. It was originally a volcano – now extinct. There were Maori wars over who actually owned the land. This is still ongoing.
During the holidays in the summer, 13,000 people a day would come to Home Bay for picnics and swimming, travelling by the Fuller Ferries Company, private boats, so many years ago.
During the war years when the Island was used for military defence, there was quite a lot of “spare time” Pumpkins were grown in the very fertile soil and after a lot of experiments – pumpkin juice was brewed to be drunk by all those on the Island. Lots of tales, lots of laughter.
We also learnt that Rotary started up the 1st ever Outward Bounds camp for children. One of our late Prime Ministers, David Lange made a huge decision when it was announced that the camp would be demolished. His son had attended a camp experience and so enjoyed it, he put an immediate stop to it.
Today, camps are a regular occurrence on Motutapu Island, and Duncan is the person running them, organising the staff, schools and children. They do many activities, confidence building exercises, learn to look after themselves and achieve self-esteem. We certainly need more people like Duncan!
Thank you Duncan for your wonderful presentation. After many questions asked, we really did enjoy your story.
