Maria Van Diemen Light

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Cape Maria van Diemen, facing the Tasman Sea, is the westernmost of the three points of land at the northern end of New Zealand, the other two being Cape Reinga and North Cape. The cape was name by Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in January 1643 in honour of the Governor of Bativia's wife. Motuopoa Island lies 1/2 mile (200m) off the cape.

Over 120 wrecks have occurred in the waters of Northland with a fair number of those in the waters surrounding Cape Reinga and Cape Maria van Diemen.

In 1874 Captain Johnson, surveyed the area from the government ship Luna. He reported back to the commissioner of customs in Auckland the following "owing to a report that Cape Reinga would offer a good site for a light, the Luna after leaving Cape Maria, proceeded thither; on arrival we found a landing difficult, although the weather was fine. The height of the cape proved to be 456 ft, far too great a height in my opinion for a light ... I therefore came to the conclusion that Cape Reinga was not so suitable a position for a light as the island laying off Cape Maria van Diemen."

So in 1878 a lighthouse was built on Motuopao Island off of Cape Maria van Diemen . The wooden lighthouse was built on a concrete base at the northern end of the island at an elevation of 300 ft (91m). The lantern room was fitted with a revolving light that flashed every minute with a red sector showing over Columbia Reef, a rocky outcrop from the island. The total cost for the lighthouse and three keepers houses was £7028 14s. 8d.

Unfortunately all the early records of the lighthouse were destroyed in a fire at the Hope Gibbons Building in Wellington in October 1922.

The three keepers and their families struggled to live on the island. The 200m stretch of water between the mainland and the island was extremely dangerous with very strong currents and unexpected wave surges. Two people drowned while crossing this passage. Drinking water was scarce, dependant only on rainfall. For food, fish was plentiful and goats supplied milk and occasionally meat. As the island was mainly sand, westerly winds were dreaded as it would blow the sand against the houses, sometimes as high as the windows. After the storm the keepers had to shovel this away.

The island was serviced every three months by the Government steamers, Stella and Tutanekei and later by the Hinemoa. Supplies were landed on the sheltered side of the island and winched off the ships to a landing area. Later to aid in landing of supplies and personnel a aerial cable was installed in 1886 between the cape and the island.

Supplies were also hauled by dray overland from Kaitaia then winched across on the cable. One of the early lighthouse keepers was Tom Smith, he and his family arrived in 1918. On the day they arrived the sea was too rough to land on the island so they were put ashore on the mainland. They then hauled their belongings over the sand hills to the aerial cable. While Mrs. Smith, a daughter and their six week old baby were being winched across on the cable, the wind intensified and the cage they sat in started to swing uncontrollably until it jammed in the middle of the cable. They has to remain suspended in the storm until it subsided two hours later and they could once gain operate the winch.

Unfortunately the lights beam was not visible from North Cape so an order was given in 1938 by the Marine Department to install a light at Cape Reinga.

On January 2, 1941 the lantern room and lens were removed from Motuopao Island and installed on the new lighthouse base at Cape Reinga the same day. The lighthouse and keepers houses were abandoned.

A battery powered beacon was erected on Cape Maria van Diemen. Every three months the batteries were changed by the keepers at Cape Reinga, which involved loading the batteries in special frames on four pack horses and leading them over a trail to the automatic lighthouse.

According to DOC reports the remains of the lighthouse settlement are relatively undisturbed. The wooden tower of kauri and Australian hardwood is still in good condition, but the nails have rusted so parts of the exterior cladding are starting to fall away. With the removal of the lantern room the structure has been open to the elements so rot is forming around the base of the structure. Plans are to construct a protective roof "cap" to weatherproof the interior and to replace of some cladding.

The foundations of the three keepers houses (which were dismantled and removed in the 1950s), the aerial cable mechanism, the concrete base for the gantry, and assorted smaller wooden structures are still intact.

Reference Number: 3686

Co-ordinates: 34°28.8'S 172°38.7'E

Characteristics: white GRP tower

Elevation (meters): 91

Height of structure (meters): 3

Range (sea miles): 9