were multiple complaints that it was inadequate. A replacement lighthouse with a more powerful light was built on an adjacent site and commissioned on 21 February 1900. The light was automated on 1 April 1924 and converted to electricity after 1945. Matiu / Somes Island in the arts Maurice Gee's book Live Bodies was set in part on Matiu / Somes Island, with the main character spending time interned there during the Second World War. Melanie Drewery's book for children Papa's Island tells the story of a family caught up in the internment of "enemy aliens" on Matiu / Somes Island. David McGill's spy novel The Death Ray Debacle is based on a true story about Victor Penny, an Auckland bus garage attendant and amateur radio enthusiast who in 1935 managed to convince government authorities that he could produce a 'death ray' that was capable of stopping an army, immobilising trucks, and bringing down enemy aeroplanes in flight. Penny was placed under the protection of defence authorities initially on Matiu / Somes Island and later at Fort Dorset. In 2013 Bard Productions staged an adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest on Matiu / Somes Island, with the boat journey across to the island forming part of the play. Scenes took place at the animal quarantine station and in the open air. See also List of islands of New Zealand References Further reading Buchanan, Rachel (2011) 'Re-making Memory on Matiu and Other “Settlement” Sites' Memory Connection, Vol 1, no. 1: 284–300. Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust and Department of Conservation. (2012) Mātiu–Makāro–Mokopuna, Wellington Harbour Islands Kaitiaki Management Plan 2012–2017. "Matiu/Somes island- Scientific and historic reserve", general information brochure published by the Department of Conservation and the Matiu Somes charitable trust Hansford, Dave (2005) 'Matiu / Somes – secrets in plain view' Forest and Bird magazine, no. 318 :14–17. External links Map of Somes Island in 1942, showing natural and man-made features and topography Parks in New Zealand Parks in the Wellington Region Island restoration Islands of the Wellington Region Wellington Harbour