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Motuihe Island
Motuihe Island is the last of the islands seen to starboard on the trip from Auckland to Waiheke Island. It forms the southern side of the Motuihe Channel, with Motutapu Island to the north.
A low island of 179ha, Motuihe lies about 11 km northeast of Auckland. It has beaches north and south of a narrow isthmus. The island is popular with boaties for the wide range of shelter it provides.
It is the subject of a long-term revegatation programme.
History
Bought by the Crown in 1872, Motuihe has had various roles as a quarantine station, a prisoner of war camp, a health camp and a public reserve. During World War I captured Germans were imprisoned there. Most famous of them was Count Felix von Luckner, a lieutenant in the German navy who, on his ship Seeadler, was famous for the non-violent capture of many allied ships. In 1917 he and his crew stole a boat and escaped from Motuihe but were eventually recaptured in the Kermadec Islands.