Seaswept: 12 years in Quarantine

Background to the book In this book, Kathy draws on her diary notes from her 12-year stint from 1997 as Keeper of Quarantine Island in the Otago Harbour for the St Martin Island Community, a community established in 1957 and inspired by the Iona Community which cares for the Scottish island on which the Irish missionary St Columba made landfall in 563AD. She, along with contributions from her husband and three children, managed the Island, covering caring for 60-odd sheep, two donkeys, injured seabirds, boat transport, cleaning the Lodge for visiting groups from Dunedin and beyond, a significant revegetation project, restoration of the historic two-storey Married Quarters building dating from the 1880s, and care of the associated historic cemetery, amongst other things. Over her 12 years in charge, many hundreds of visitors from all kinds of community and social groups came to enjoy the Island and all it had to offer, including her warm welcome to everyone. The book tells of her steep and multifaceted learning curve in a wide range of situations, challenges, and adventures, and how much she learned from the many teachers she encountered along the way. Synopsis The book is in 12 chapters, covering how she came to be the Island Keeper, and stories of people, sheep, donkeys, injured seabirds, and some encounters with sea creatures. Significant marine adventures are relived, and the progress of important ecological and an historic building restoration also feature, as do some reflections on family life on and off the Island. The Community’s motto (attributed to the French Bishop St Martin of Tours) was that that Work and Worship go hand in hand, and there is a strong thread of a spiritual dimension in her Island life, as her often moving stories reveal. The fascinating stories recounted here are spiced with brief extracts from her diaries which vividly convey the immediacy of some of the situations encountered in her Island life.