Jacqueline Todd has such fond memories of Rangitoto that she has named her racehorse Islington Bay.

When asked her favourite memory of Rangitoto Jacqui said "The entire magical experience of every visit, every holiday, every fishing trip, for three generations of our family.

"Most memorable are, fishing from the little clinker built boat with its seagull engine, my mother ringing the bell for us to come for meals, catching bait from the Islington Bay wharf, the warm, sweet smell of the bush, the kerosene fridge, the walk up to the longdrop(!), happy, safe roaming around the island and the gentle, kindly folk who lived there permanently.

"We regularly visited the families nearest to us, Nana Franklin, Mrs Brady, Miss Bowen, Mr and Mrs Briggs, Mr and Mrs Arrowsmith, Mr and Mrs Price and also Mr George Matheson - who smoked the fish."

Sadly, the bach is no longer there. It was the Fairey bach, number 72, on the shore south of the wharf inlet.

The bach had been built in 1922/3 by James Watson for himself. James was one of the Watson Brothers Builders of Auckland who, in the 1930s, built a number of baches on the island.

Bach 72 was later owned by Wally Bruce, a baker, who sold it in 1940 to Jacqui's grandfather, George Fairey, also a baker, from Palmerston North. The bach was payment for a Fairey Fan Fire Furnace which George had invented to manage wartime fuel restrictions. The furnaces were designed to enable bakeries to keep on making bread, a staple food item.

The bach was known as Dunroamin, but, says Jacqui, "when my Grandfather built a concrete path from the track up to the bach, he wrote the name Fairholm on the bottom step where it can still be seen there today."

Jacqui describes the bach: "Grandad built on a bathroom/laundry with a large bath for my Grandmother [Violet Fairey] who had rheumatism and found the sea too cold to swim in. Otherwise, the bach had two bedrooms, an enclosed front porch which slept two on the window seat, a kitchen with kerosene fridge and gas stove/oven, and a sitting/dining room with open fire and chimney. The longdrop was up a little path behind the bach."

Jacqui shares the loss of many who grieve the "destruction of this unique part of New Zealand's history. The way has been long and difficult" says Jacqui, "but as we evolve as a society, we value more of our past. New Zealand is such a young country and much of our past has been lost. Do not lose the Bay!

"Where else can people see an authentic New Zealand bach community. The baches are original, and importantly, unpretentious. A dragonfly-in-amber glimpse of yesteryear."