The remains of the Matiu/Somes Island barracks building is a shell of its former self that was built to accommodate prisoners, soldiers and later used as a quarantine site for migrants suffering from contagious diseases. Many of these migrants never left the island and are buried there. The building has been preserved with damaged wood replaced with contemporary materials showing its basic structure that the occupants lived in. Details of the original weather stained wooden planks resembling cloudy moonlit seascapes one can imagine the isolated occupants staring at and wanting to be free of. I created these images 2018-19 with permission from local iwi and DOC.
