"Between four and five years ago, when the erection of a Quarantine Station was being considered, some Heads of Departments, including myself, inspected Vulcan Island with the object of seeing whether it might not be made into an animal or plant Quarantine Station, but turned it down as there was evidence that it was subject to frequent rising and subsidence.

"On my last visit a casarina tree which had been well above high water mark was particularly noticeable as being about twelve inches below water level, and the shore line seemed to have tilted. For the reasons I stated that I did not consider the island suitable for a Quarantine Station on account of the danger of its possible sudden subsidence, a statement trewatered with some levity by my companions, but having had personal experience with volcanic eruptions in other parts of the world I know that it was no joke. My final remark was 'it came up in a night and might go down in a night and I would suggest that life buoys be hung round the verandah rails of the buildings where they would at least be ornamental, but would not be required if the island went up instead of down'."

George H. Murray (1939), in a discussion of the 1937 eruption of Vulcan, Rabaul Caldera, Papua New Guinea.