The Hermit of Island Bay was a well-known personality, and somewhat of a tourist attraction, at the end of the 19th century in Wellington, New Zealand. [1]
His name is recorded as "Persse" by several newspapers of the time, [2] [3] and as "William Persse" by a biographer. [4]
The Hermit lived for 17 years in a cave beside the southern coast, in Island Bay, close to Houghton Bay. The cave had a single opening, through which smoke from his fire exited. [5]
Many tourists approached his cave and interacted with the Hermit, who is reported to have been neither pleased nor unhappy with the attention. [6]
His cave was boarded up and partially destroyed when Queens Drive was built in 1894. [7]
An oil painting depicting the Hermit in his cave beside his fire is held in the collection of the national museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa. [8] [9]