Mokohinau Islands Lighthouse, Lighthouse on Burgess Island, Mokohinau Islands, New Zealand

Mokohinau Islands Lighthouse stands on Burgess Island as a cylindrical stone tower with a balcony and lantern room, marking the northern entrance to the Hauraki Gulf. It is the landfall light for vessels approaching Auckland from the north and northeast, positioned about 50 km northeast of Cape Rodney.

Built in 1883 and first lit that June, the lighthouse marked the northern approach to the Hauraki Gulf. It went dark during World War II after a German raider was suspected of laying mines nearby, and was not relit until 1947. In 1980 it was automated, one of the last in New Zealand, and the keepers left.

The islands are a wildlife reserve within the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park, created in 2000. Burgess Island is the only island of the Mokohinau group open to the public, though the lighthouse itself is closed. The archipelago shelters the Mokohinau skink and the Mokohinau stag beetle, and seabirds nest there.

Burgess Island is the only island in the Mokohinau group open to free public access, but the lighthouse building itself is closed to visitors. There are no visitor facilities, so bring food, water and any camping gear. The light is monitored remotely from Wellington, so no keeper is present on the island.

In 1908 a keeper sealed three letters inside a small tin sailing boat and launched it toward New Zealand; it was found, and supplies reached the island nine days later. A model of the boat is displayed in Auckland Museum labelled "the smallest mail boat in the world".