Tension between the British and Russian empires in the mid-1880s drove New Zealand to fortify its main ports. Rīpapa formed part of Lyttelton’s defences, along with Battery, Spur and Erskine Points. Rīpapa (‘mooring rock’) was also a refuge pā for Ngāi Tahu in the late 1820s, identified as a potential battery site in 1857, and was a quarantine station for Vogel’s immigrants in 1873. Once called Humanity Island, an ironic name for Taranaki Māori held prisoner there in 1880. Remnants of the pā was probably excavated away when Fort Jervois was installed, as the quarantine buildings were pulled down and the top 5 meters of the island itself. Fort Jervois was named after former Governor Sir William Jervois, an imperial expert on coastal defences, and by 1889 two 8-inch rifled muzzle-loaders and two 6-inch hydro-pneumatic disappearing guns were in place. Big guns which would have been even more menacing with the fort’s crenellations and mock crossed-arrow slits. The Russians never came, the big guns never fired in anger and today this imposing fort on a small island built to protect, is protected due to significance in New Zealand history. Source: The 1970’s aerial imagery was supplied by Environment Canterbury and is subject to re-use under attribution CC-BY 4.0. The Taununu's pa map was supplied by the National library-Strouts, Frederick, 1834-1919. Taununu's pa, Ripapa Island, Lyttelton Harbour. Copied from plan made by Fredk Strouts in 1872 ... [ca.1910] [copy of ms map]. Ref: MapColl-834.44hkcmf/1872/Acc.5099. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/23027745 #aerial #aerialimage #aerialphotography #aotearoa #canterbury #fort #fortjervois #history #heritage #historicmaps #lyttelton #newzealand #nzhistory #nzarchaeology #oldmaps #nzarchaeology #ripapa https://www.instagram.com/p/BnwzXoMBdHV/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1hl8zao7z8wdz
