WORLD, COME TO MY HOME!: 3451 NEW ZEALAND (North Island) - Cape Egmont Lighthouse and Mount Taranaki

This lighthouse was built in London in 1864. A year later, the cast-iron segments were shipped to New Zealand and assembled on Mana Island, north of Wellington, near Cook Strait. Because it was sometimes confused with the Pencarrow Head light at the entrance to Wellington Harbour, which led to several shipping accidents, it was dismantled and moved to Cape Egmont, close to the volcanic cone of Mount Taranaki. The huge cast iron sections would have been ferried ashore by surfboats, then dragged up to the site by bullock teams.

Just a few miles away was the settlement of Parihaka, which at the time was the centre of a Maori non-violent movement led by Te Whiti O Rongomai and Tohu Kakahi. Using passive, but effective, resistance the people of Parihaka managed to delay the erection of the lighthouse. In reply, the colonial authorities stationed about 40 members of the Armed Constabulary at the tower to ensure its completion. The light finally shone on 1 August 1881.

On the background can be seen Mount Taranaki, an active stratovolcano named also Mount Egmont. The 2,518 metres mountain has a secondary cone, Fanthams Peak, 1,966 metres, on its south side. It is geologically young, having commenced activity approximately 135,000 years ago. The most recent volcanic activity was the production of a lava dome in the crater and its collapse down the side of the mountain in the 1850s or 1860s. The last major eruption occurred around 1655.

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