Katiki Point Lighthouse, Wooden lighthouse in Otago Region, New Zealand.
Katiki Point Lighthouse is a wooden tower painted white with red trim, standing about 8.5 meters tall on the southern coast between Moeraki and Katiki settlements. The structure has a distinctive hexagonal shape and sits on a rocky point with views across the water.
Built in 1878 to protect ships from dangerous reefs, it suffered damage from a severe storm before first being lit. The lighthouse marks an important point in this region's maritime past.
Tradition holds that the cargo of the ancestral waka atua, wrecked on its return voyage from Hawaiki, lies on the beach at Kātiki below the lighthouse, and that its remains are the Moeraki Boulders. The point's long record of shipwrecks is kept in this story.
The lighthouse stands on the tip of the Moeraki Peninsula, reached from the settlements of Moeraki or Katiki by following signs for Katiki Point or Moeraki Point. The point is exposed and can be windy and cool even in summer, so bring warm layers. The light remains in operation and is monitored from Wellington, so keep to safety rules on site.
The light was fully automated in 1975, when the keeper was withdrawn; the 2006 work by Maritime New Zealand was a restoration. The original lens, run on a 1000-watt mains lamp with a diesel generator for standby, can still be seen in the lantern room at the top of the tower.
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