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Location | Puysegur Point, Southland Region, Southland District, New Zealand |
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Coordinates | 46°09′22″S166°36′34″E / 46.1561°S 166.6094°E |
Tower | |
Constructed | January 1943 ![]() |
Construction | cast iron ![]() |
Automated | 1990 ![]() |
Height | 5 m (16 ft) ![]() |
Shape | octagon ![]() |
Power source | solar power ![]() |
Light | |
First lit | January 1943 ![]() |
Focal height | 45 m (148 ft) ![]() |
Lens | second order Fresnel lens ![]() |
Light source | rotating LED beacon |
Range | 19 nmi (35 km; 22 mi) ![]() |
Characteristic | Fl W 12s ![]() |
Original lighthouse | |
Constructed | 1878 ![]() |
Construction | wood ![]() |
Height | 40 ft (12 m) ![]() |
First lit | 1 March 1879 ![]() |
Focal height | 180 ft (55 m) ![]() |
Lens | first order Fresnel lens ![]() |
Characteristic | Fl W 10s ![]() |
The Puysegur Point Lighthouse is located on a remote headland overlooking the Tasman Sea at the southwest corner of New Zealand's South Island. The Puysegur Point headland is near the entrance to Rakituma / Preservation Inlet in Fiordland National Park. The lighthouse marks the northwest point of the entrance to Foveaux Strait, separating Stewart Island from the South Island. [1] Puysegur Point is one of the most isolated and inaccessible lighthouses in New Zealand.
The original wooden lighthouse tower was destroyed in an arson attack on 8 February 1942. A replacement lighthouse was constructed using equipment that had recently become surplus from the Godley Head and Cape Foulwind lighthouses, and a new light was commissioned in January 1943.
Surveys of possible sites for lighthouses around Foveaux Strait were undertaken in 1874 from the vessel PS Luna. [2] Sites visited included Cape Puysegur, Centre Island, Rugged Island, Green Islands, and Cape Windsor. [3] [4] Puysegur Point was identified as a potentially suitable site because of the elevation, the visibility from vessels en route to Otago or Canterbury from the west, and the accessibility. [5] [6]
Lighthouse equipment for Puysegur Point was ordered in February 1875 as part of a larger contract awarded by the Commissioner of Customs for the supply of apparatus and lanterns for six lighthouses around the New Zealand coast. [7] Site works began that same year in levelling sites for houses, and for the construction of a 1.5-mile-long (2.4 km) road to the location of the lighthouse from the landing point at Otago Retreat in Preservation Inlet. [7] [8] The Otago Retreat landing point had been previously established by prospectors exploring local coal deposits. [9]
Land was formally reserved for the lighthouse late in 1875. [10] The estimated cost of constructing the lighthouse was reported as £8,500. [11] In December 1876, the Marine Office called for tenders for the construction of a lighthouse, dwellings and other buildings. [12] Materials for the construction were brought ashore at the landing point at Otago Retreat. [13] The main site construction works were completed by 1878. [14] In the financial year 1877–78, the Marine Department spent £3,418 on works at Puysegur Point. [15]
The tower was of wooden construction 40 feet (12 m) high, painted white. The lighthouse was fitted with a first order lens and the light, flashing every 10 seconds, was first shown on 1 March 1879. The focal height was 180 feet (55 m) above sea level, with a range of 19 nautical miles (35 km; 22 mi). [16]
The tower was found to sway in the extreme winds often experienced at Puysegur Point. In 1886, the tower was strengthened with the addition of four guy-wires, fixed to ground anchors. [17]
The Puysegur Point light was upgraded to the Chance incandescent system in 1909, providing an improved light with reduced consumption of oil. [18]
Despite being built on the mainland, rather than an offshore island, Puysegur Point is one of the most isolated and inaccessible lighthouse locations in New Zealand. [17]
In 1896, surveys began for a telegraph line route from Puysegur Point to Orepuki in Southland, to provide communications from the site. [19] Following the stranding of the vessel Ruapehu on Farewell Spit in 1897, commentators noted that several lighthouses around the coast, including Puysegur Point, did not have telegraph communications for promptly summoning assistance for vessels in distress. [20] However, in 1899, homing pigeons were still being used to carry messages from Puysegur Point back to Invercargill. [21]
A government decision to provide telegraph communications with the lighthouse was finally made in 1908. [22] Telegraph communications from the site were used to summon assistance in 1910, following the wreck of the Waikare in Dusky Sound. [23] However, the telegraph line proved difficult to maintain, and by the 1920's it was replaced by a radio-telephone system. [17]
The lighthouse received stores and mail in monthly supply visits from government steamers, including the Stella in 1886, [24] the Invercargill in 1895, [25] and the GSS Wairua in the 1940s. [26] Lighthouse keepers complained about the lack of a regular mail service. There was no reliable and regular mail service provided until 1941 when a two-weekly service from Riverton was commenced, subject to weather conditions. [17]
On Sunday 8 February 1942, the lighthouse was burned down by a man who had been prospecting on nearby Coal Island for six months, and who visited the lighthouse periodically to pick up stores left for him by the lighthouse supply vessel. It was subsequently reported that the man was infuriated by the flashing light from the lighthouse disturbing his sleep. [27] He assaulted the lighthouse keeper on duty, knocking him unconscious, smashed the radio telephone and set fire to the lighthouse. After the assault and arson, he stole a rifle and ammunition and returned to Coal Island, but became marooned there when other lighthouse keepers took his boat from the island. [27] The lighthouse keepers were able to restore radio communications and summoned help from Bluff. Police arrived and arrested the man the following day. [28] The man was subsequently detained in a mental institution. [29]
A replacement lighthouse at Puysegur Point was established in January 1943. It was constructed on a short concrete foundation and used a lantern room that was previously in service at the Godley Head lighthouse, but had become surplus following a relocation of that lighthouse in 1942. [30] Lenses previously installed in the lighthouse at Cape Foulwind were re-used and put into service. [27] [31]
A radio beacon was installed at Puysegur Point in 1947 as an additional navigation aid. [32]
In August 1980, the Puysegur Point lighthouse was replaced with two automatic lights located at Windsor Point, to the southeast of Puysegur Point, and Cape Providence at the northern entrance to Chalky Inlet. [31] However, in 1987 the Windsor Point light was shut down, and the Puysegur Point light was re-established.
The Puysegur Point lighthouse was equipped with a solar power supply in 1989, and permanent lighthouse keepers left the site for the last time. [27]
The Puysegur Point Lighthouse was featured on a postage stamp as part of the commemoration of the centenary of the New Zealand Government Life Insurance Office in 1969. It was initially issued in 1969 as a 2½ cent stamp, but was overprinted and re-issued as a 25 cent stamp in 1978. [41]
Farewell Spit is a narrow sand spit at the northern end of the Golden Bay, in the South Island of New Zealand. The spit includes around 25 km (16 mi) of stable land and another 5 km (3.1 mi) of mobile sand spit running eastwards from Cape Farewell, the northern-most point of the South Island. Farewell Spit is the longest sand spit in New Zealand, and is a legally protected Nature Reserve. The area is designated as a Ramsar wetland site and an East Asian–Australasian Flyway Shorebird Network site. Farewell Spit is administered by the Department of Conservation as a seabird and wildlife reserve. Apart from a small area at the base of the spit, it is closed to the public except through organised tours. Conservation initiatives are in progress towards eliminating mammalian predators from Farewell Spit, including a proposal for a predator-proof fence.
Foveaux Strait is a strait that separates Stewart Island from the South Island of New Zealand. The width of the strait ranges from about 23 to 53 km, and the depth varies between 18 and 46 m. The strait was first charted by an American sealer, Owen Folger Smith. He charted the strait from a whaleboat of the sealing brig Union in 1804.
Cape Foulwind is a headland on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand, overlooking the Tasman Sea. It is located 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) west of the town of Westport. There is a lighthouse located on a prominent site on the headland. A walkway beginning at the lighthouse carpark traverses the rocky headland to Tauranga Bay and passes close by a colony of New Zealand fur seals. There is limestone quarry in the area, and a cement works operated nearby from 1958 to 2016.
The Brothers is a group of small islands in Cook Strait, New Zealand, off the east coast of Cape Koamaru, Arapaoa Island. The islands are a restricted-access wildlife sanctuary administered by the Department of Conservation.
Puysegur Point is a headland located in the far southwest of the South Island of New Zealand. It lies within Fiordland National Park on the southern head of Preservation Inlet and is 145 kilometres (90 mi) west-northwest of Invercargill. The name 'Puysegur' was bestowed by Lieutenant Jules Dumont d'Urville or Midshipman Jules de Blosseville during a South Pacific expedition of La Coquille; probably in honour of the French naval officer Antoine-Hyacinthe-Anne de Chastenet de Puységur (1752–1809).
The Lizard Lighthouse is a lighthouse at Lizard Point, Cornwall, England, built to guide vessels passing through the English Channel. It was often the welcoming beacon to persons returning to England, where on a clear night, the reflected light could be seen 100 mi (160 km) away.
Waipapa Point is a rocky promontory on the south coast of Foveaux Strait, the South Island of New Zealand. It is located 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) southeast of the mouth of the Mataura River, at the extreme southwestern end of the area known as the Catlins.
The Solander Islands / Hautere are three eroded remnant volcanic islets towards the western entrance of the Foveaux Strait just beyond New Zealand's South Island. The islands lie 40 km (25 mi) south of the coastline of Fiordland.
The Kātiki Point Lighthouse, also known as Moeraki Lighthouse, shone for the first time in 1878, following several accidents on the dangerous reefs around the area, to make the area safer for ships that sailed past on their way to Port Chalmers, Dunedin. The lighthouse was built between the settlements of Moeraki and Kātiki, on the tip of the Moeraki Peninsula, which is known as Kātiki Point or Moeraki Point.
Foveaux Strait is the centre of attention for sealing ships. Sealing gangs are dropped along the coast from southern Fiordland to Otago Harbour and on Stewart Island / Rakiura. The Bay of Islands is sometimes on the journey to or from Port Jackson. The Chatham Islands are also visited. A few whalers also operate around New Zealand; some also collect timber from Bay of Islands.
As sealing at Bass Strait and the Antipodes Islands declines, Foveaux Strait becomes the focus for sealers from the middle of the year. The Bounty and Auckland Islands are also visited. Whaling is carried out on the east coast of New Zealand with the Bay of Islands being the usual port of call for provisioning. As many as nine ships whaling together for months at a time can occur. The behaviour of the whalers at the Bay of Islands is again commented on unfavourably, this time by a former missionary on one of the whaling ships. There are also a number of vessels collecting sandalwood from Tonga or Fiji; the majority call at the Bay of Islands en route.
SS Tararua was a passenger steamer that struck the reef off Waipapa Point in the Catlins on 29 April 1881, and sank the next day, in the worst civilian shipping disaster in New Zealand's history. Of the 151 passengers and crew on board, only 20 survived the shipwreck.
Stewart Island is New Zealand's third-largest island, located 30 kilometres south of the South Island, across Foveaux Strait. It is a roughly triangular island with a total land area of 1,746 km2 (674 sq mi). Its 164-kilometre (102 mi) coastline is deeply indented by Paterson Inlet (east), Port Pegasus (south), and Mason Bay (west). The island is generally hilly and densely forested. Flightless birds, including penguins, thrive because there are few introduced predators. Almost all the island is owned by the New Zealand government, and over 80 per cent of the island is set aside as the Rakiura National Park.
Southland is New Zealand's southernmost region. It consists of the southwestern portion of the South Island and includes Stewart Island. Southland is bordered by the culturally similar Otago Region to the north and east, and the West Coast Region in the extreme northwest. The region covers over 3.1 million hectares and spans 3,613 km of coastline. As of June 2023, Southland has a population of 103,900, making it the eleventh-most-populous New Zealand region, and the second-most sparsely populated. Approximately half of the region's population lives in Invercargill, Southland's only city.
Dog Island is located in Foveaux Strait some 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from Bluff, New Zealand. It holds New Zealand's tallest lighthouse and since the maritime structure was fully automated in 1989, the island has been uninhabited.
The Dog Island Lighthouse on Dog Island in Foveaux Strait is New Zealand's tallest lighthouse, and one of its oldest. It is notable for its masonry construction, and is a work example by an engineer who was prominent at the time. The lighthouse employed the first revolving beam in New Zealand, and the unique original light apparatus was in use for 60 years. Dog Island Lighthouse is one of the most distinct lighthouses in New Zealand, with only two others having stripes painted on them for better visibility at daytime. The lighthouse is registered by Heritage New Zealand as a Category I structure, and the adjacent lighthouse keepers cottage has a Category II registration. Originally operated by three lighthouse keepers, the structure has since 1989 been remote controlled from Maritime New Zealand's Wellington office, with Dog Island since having been uninhabited. Dog Island Lighthouse has twice featured on New Zealand stamps.
The Foveaux shag, together with the Otago shag formerly known as the Stewart Island shag and in its dark phase as the bronze shag, is a species of shag endemic to Stewart Island / Rakiura and Foveaux Strait, from which it takes its name.
The Farewell Spit Lighthouse is located at the end of New Zealand's longest sand spit in Golden Bay / Mohua, near the northern tip of the South Island. It guides vessels entering Cook Strait from the west and south. The LED rotating beacon flashes white or red, once every 15 seconds. It has a range of 19 nautical miles. Red is shown to warn approaching vessels of extensive shoaling. Standing 27 metres (89 ft) tall, the tower needs to be taller than the support structures of most lighthouses built on cliffs or headlands, because the sand foundations it is built upon are almost at sea level. The tower is constructed of an open steel lattice to withstand abrasive sand and salt-laden winds.
The Matiu / Somes Island lighthouse is a harbour navigation light located on Matiu / Somes Island in Wellington Harbour, New Zealand. It is a sector light, marking a safe approach through the harbour channel. The first lighthouse on the site was established in 1866. It was the first inner harbour lighthouse in New Zealand, and one of only eight lighthouses nationwide at that time. However, by 1895 there 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. The lighthouse is currently operated and maintained by the Greater Wellington Regional Council.
Media related to Puysegur Point Lighthouse at Wikimedia Commons