![]() The lighthouse in 2010 | |
![]() | |
Location | Tiritiri Matangi North Island New Zealand |
---|---|
Coordinates | 36°36′20.4″S174°53′50.8″E / 36.605667°S 174.897444°E Coordinates: 36°36′20.4″S174°53′50.8″E / 36.605667°S 174.897444°E |
Tower | |
Constructed | 1864 |
Construction | cast iron tower [1] |
Automated | 1925 (1st), 1984 (2nd) [1] |
Height | 20 metres (66 ft) [1] |
Shape | cylindrical tower with balcony and lantern |
Markings | white tower, black lantern roof |
Power source | solar power ![]() |
Operator | Department of Conservation [2] |
Heritage | Heritage New Zealand Category 1 historic place listing ![]() |
Light | |
First lit | 1865 |
Focal height | 91 metres (299 ft) [1] |
Range | 18 nautical miles (33 km; 21 mi) [1] |
Characteristic | FL W 15s |
Designated | 25 June 1992 |
Reference no. | 5403 |
Tiritiri Matangi Lighthouse, also known as Tiritiri Lighthouse, is a lighthouse on Tiritiri Matangi, an island in the Hauraki Gulf 28 km north of Auckland in the North Island of New Zealand. It is owned and operated by Maritime New Zealand. It is considered the best-preserved lighthouse complex in the country, [3] and is the oldest lighthouse in New Zealand still in operation. [1] It was once the most powerful lighthouse in the Southern Hemisphere. [4]
Constructed in 1864 [3] from cast iron, the light was first lit on 1 January 1865. The light was first automated in 1925 and used an acetylene burning revolving light. Keepers returned to the light in 1947 and it remained staffed until 1984 when the light was fully automated. The light's last keeper, Ray Walter, remained on the island working with his wife Barbara as Department of Conservation rangers until their retirement in 2006. [1] [5]
The lighthouse along with the nearby visitor centre is a popular destination, although the light itself is not open to the public. [1] The building has a Category I listing with Heritage New Zealand. [6]
Tiritiri Matangi Island is located in the Hauraki Gulf of New Zealand, 3.4 km (2.1 mi) east of the Whangaparaoa Peninsula in the North Island and 30 km (19 mi) north east of Auckland. The 2.2 km2 (1 sq mi) island is an open nature reserve managed by the Supporters of Tiritiri Matangi Incorporated, under the supervision of the Department of Conservation and is noted for its bird life, including takahē, North Island kōkako and kiwi. It attracts between 30,000 and 32,000 visitors a year, the latter figure being the maximum allowed by the Auckland Conservation Management Strategy.
The Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has an area of 4000 km2, and lies between, in anticlockwise order, the Auckland Region, the Hauraki Plains, the Coromandel Peninsula, and Great Barrier Island. Most of the gulf is part of the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park.
The Whangaparaoa Peninsula is a suburban area about 25 km north of Auckland, New Zealand. It had 30,672 residents in 2013, many of them in the eponymous town of Whangaparaoa on its southern side. It is part of the Hibiscus Coast. The area is populated largely by retired Aucklanders and “weekenders” who may swell the numbers to many thousands in the holiday season. However, many residents commute from this area to the Auckland CBD for work both via the Gulf Harbour ferry and the Hibiscus Coast Bus Station.
The Hibiscus Coast is a populated area on a stretch of the Hauraki Gulf coast in New Zealand's Auckland Region. It has a population of 60,000, making it the 11th most populous urban area in New Zealand, and the second most populous in the Auckland Region, behind Auckland itself.
Motukorea or Browns Island is a small New Zealand island, in the Hauraki Gulf north of Musick Point, one of the best preserved volcanoes in the Auckland volcanic field. The age of eruption is about 25,000 years ago, when the Tāmaki Estuary and the Waitemata Harbour were forested river valleys. Due to centuries of cultivation, little native bush remains except on the north-eastern cliffs, leaving the volcanic landforms easily visible. It exhibits the landforms from three styles of eruption. The island consists of one main scoria cone with a deep crater, a small remnant arc of the tuff ring forming the cliffs in the northeast, and the upper portions of lava flows. The area was dry land when the eruptions occurred, but much of the lava is now submerged beneath the sea.
A lighthouse keeper or lightkeeper is a person responsible for tending and caring for a lighthouse, particularly the light and lens in the days when oil lamps and clockwork mechanisms were used. Lighthouse keepers were sometimes referred to as "wickies" because of their job trimming the wicks.
East Cape Lighthouse is a lighthouse sited on Otiki Hill above East Cape, the easternmost point on the North Island of New Zealand. It is owned and operated by Maritime New Zealand. The lighthouse was originally constructed on nearby East Island. However the island was difficult to access and proved to be susceptible to earthquakes and subsequent landslips. In 1920 a decision was made to relocate the light to the mainland and in April 1922, the light was extinguished and then relit at its current location in December of that year. Originally manned by three lighthouse keepers, the light's staffing was progressively reduced until it was fully automated in 1985. It is now controlled from the Maritime New Zealand headquarters in Wellington. While the area around the light is accessible by foot, the lighthouse itself is not open to the public.
The Katiki 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 Katiki, on the tip of the Moeraki Peninsula, which is known as Katiki Point or Moeraki Point.
The Mokohinau Islands (Pokohinau) are a small group of islands that lie off the northeast coast of New Zealand's North Island. The islands are 100 km (62 mi) northeast of Auckland, 21 km (13 mi) northwest of Great Barrier Island and approximately 52 km (32 mi) east of Bream Head. The main islands of the group include Fanal Island (Motukino), Burgess Island (Pokohinu), Flax Island (Hokoromea), and Trig Island (Atihau). Most of them are managed by the Department of Conservation as nature reserves and wildlife sanctuaries. Landing is not allowed without a permit, with the exception of Burgess Island, much of which is managed as a scenic reserve by the Department of Conservation. The remainder of Burgess Island is Crown Land and is administered by the Ministry of Transport. The total land area of the Mokohinau Islands is 160 ha.
Nugget Point Lighthouse is a lighthouse at Nugget Point in the Otago region of the South Island of New Zealand. It is owned and operated by Maritime New Zealand.
Mokohinau Islands Lighthouse is a lighthouse on Burgess Island, one of the Mokohinau Islands, which lie off the northeast coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is owned and operated by Maritime New Zealand. The lighthouse sits at the entrance to the Hauraki Gulf as the landfall light for vessels approaching Auckland from the north and northeast.
Rangitoto Lighthouse is a lighthouse off the coast in McKenzie Bay, in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf.
Shakespear Regional Park is a nature park in the Auckland Region of New Zealand. It is located at the tip of the Whangaparaoa Peninsula, and is named after the Shakespear family which bought the land in the 1880s from local Maori.
Crowdy Head Light is an active lighthouse located at Crowdy Head, a headland between Forster and Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia. It is registered with the Register of the National Estate.
Kiama Light, also known as Kiama Harbour Light, is an active lighthouse in Kiama, New South Wales, Australia. The lighthouse is located close to the Kiama Blowhole on Blowhole Point, south of Kiama Harbour.
Bay Rock Light is an inactive lighthouse which used to be located on Bay Rock, a rocky islet northwest of Magnetic Island, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of Townsville, Queensland, Australia. First lit in 1886, it was automated in 1920 and deactivated in the 1980s. It was relocated in 1992 to the Townsville Maritime Museum, where it is now displayed.
Low Isles Light, also known as Low Islets Light or Low Island Light, is an active lighthouse located on Low Island, a coral cay which together with Woody Island forms the Low Isles group, about 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) northeast of Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia. The island is situated on the western edge of the main shipping channel into the harbour of Port Douglas, and it marks the entrance to the channel. Built in 1878, it was the first lighthouse in Far North Queensland and more specifically the first to light the Inner Passage of the Great Barrier Reef. Its construction is typical to Queensland lighthouses of the time, timber frame clad with galvanized iron, and it is the fourth lighthouse of this type constructed in Queensland, though it is the first of them to use portholes.
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.
Bean Rock Lighthouse is a lighthouse situated at the end of a reef in the Waitematā Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand. It is the only remaining example in New Zealand of a wooden cottage-style lighthouse, and it is one of only a few remaining worldwide. It is also the oldest wooden lighthouse and only wave-washed tower in New Zealand. It is owned, operated and maintained by Ports of Auckland.