features of these sites are present on the island today. The Swiss Consul in 1942 protested that with military equipment on the island it had become a potential target and that keeping prisoners in a potential conflict zone was against the Geneva Convention. The Government moved the internees to a camp at Pahiatua, but in September 1944 this was needed for Polish refugee children so the prisoners were sent back to Matiu / Somes Island (apart from the Italians who had been allowed to return to their families after Italy signed an armistice in March 1944). At the end of the war the internees were released and allowed to stay in New Zealand if they wished, since Europe was in a mess. Quarantine station to scientific reserve From 1947 to 1995 the island was used as a quarantine station for livestock, with limited access to the public from 1981 onwards. Matiu/Somes became part of Lower Hutt in 1989 and came under the full control of the Department of Conservation (DOC) as a scientific and historic reserve in August 1995. Transfer of ownership In 2009, the ownership of the island was transferred to the iwi Taranaki Whānui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika. The transfer of ownership was part of cultural redress for Taranaki Whānui included in the settlement of their claims against the Crown for breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi. Following the passing of the Port Nicholson Block (Taranaki Whānui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika) Claims Settlement Act 2009, ownership of the island is vested in the trustees of the Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust. A kaitiaki plan (or management plan) was prepared in 2012, to guide the administration of the harbour islands scientific and historic reserves, in accordance with the Reserves Act 1977. A waharoa, or carved gateway, named Tane Te Waiora was unveiled adjacent to the wharf at the entrance to the island in 2017. Geography The island is in area, and lies south of the suburb of Petone and the mouth of the Hutt River. Just off the northern tip of Matiu / Somes Island lies tiny Mokopuna Island, also known as Leper Island. Matiu / Somes Island is about northwest of the much smaller Mākaro / Ward Island. A distinct gully runs from the south of the former quarantine station and terminates at the sea on the southern end of the island between two