At the time of first European contact, the area now known as Timaru was only sparsely populated. An early traveller noted Maori ‘plantations at the most valuable part of the bay [Caroline Bay]’ in 1848. Archaeological evidence places a small kainga on the northern headland of Caroline Bay (NZAA site K39/1). There were four headlands and three bays (Taitarakihi, Waimataitai, Caroline) providing a haven for waka travelling up and down the coast. Indeed the name Timaru is most likely a corruption of Te Maru, meaning a place of shelter. Shelter was needed in waters without any other safe landfall: Tuhawaiki for instance drowned in the vicinity of Timaru while on a sea journey north. Following colonial settlement, under the terms of Kemp’s Deed, one of the reserves set aside for South Canterbury Maori in 1848-49 was a 20-acre site near Caroline Bay. Known as Reserve 884 (Opukuorakaitauheke or Upoko-o-Rakai-tauheke), a small area of this block was taken back in the early 1870s for the railway, and in the 1920s the Timaru Borough Council purchased the remainder. The main part of the former reserve, as purchased in the 1920s, was renamed Ataahua (beautiful place) by the borough, and the park there is known as Maori Park. In 1856 the colonial Government established a town south of Caroline Bay at Timaru, as did members of the Rhodes family who bought parcels of land from hapu of Ngai Tahu in the early 1850s. These were combined into the borough of Timaru in 1868, which started developing the port and hinterland industries. Timaru’s port has been an important aspect of the area’s development. Initially ships anchored off shore and unloaded cargoes directly onto the beach. In the 1870s steps were taken to create an artificial harbour by building breakwaters which created a deep water area for the wharves while sand was swept north to form the beach at Caroline Bay. A significant feature from the early days of port activity is the lighthouse. The Timaru lighthouse is one of at least 14 lighthouses erected in New Zealand to the designs of John Blackett, the government’s Marine Engineer. The first ‘lighthouse’ in the port of Timaru was a tar barrel set alight when a ship was expected. This primitive device was replaced in 1863 by permanent lights erected on the cliff above the landing service building, but after ten years of operation these lights were publicly condemned and a third lighthouse was called for. In the following year the Canterbury Provincial Council voted £1,000 for the erection of a lighthouse and following some controversy it was decided to site the lighthouse near the harbour on Le Cren Terrace (later known as The Terrace). In 1876 Blackett designed the lighthouse and while the Timaru Harbour Board favoured a stone structure, timber was eventually decided on for financial reasons. The lighthouse first came into use on 1 July 1878. It was fitted with a kerosene light, replaced by gas in 1890, then by an electric light in 1920. In 1948 a flashing light was installed, guiding ships entering the port until March 1970 when new port lights were erected above Dashing Rocks. Blackett’s Lighthouse was moved to a new site at Maori Park in 1980 after ten years of disuse. When it was moved to Maori Park it became the rear lead beacon for a navigational system which had been erected above the Benvenue Cliffs in 1907. In November 2010 the Blackett’s Lighthouse was again moved, this time several hundred metres away, down the street, across the rail track and closer to the sea at a site on the Benvenue Cliffs. While the new site means that the lighthouse is no longer at Maori Park, the land it has been relocated to is a parcel of Railway land, part of the original Native Reserve 884. The 2010 relocation was deemed necessary as a new Caroline Bay Aquatic Centre is being built close to the site where the lighthouse had stood since 1980. NZHPT supported the move. Contextual Analysis: Early New Zealand Lighthouses : The history of lit navigational aids in New Zealand began in the early 1830s, when a beacon was erected at Maketu in the Bay of Plenty. In the early years of the colony, inbound vessels frequently had difficulty in identifying ports due to a lack of navigational aids, and shipwrecks were common. During the 1850s and early 1860s, permanent lighthouses were erected by the Wellington and Nelson Provincial Councils, including an imported cast iron structure at Pencarrow in 1858-59 - the earliest permanent lighthouse in New Zealand. In 1861, a countrywide approach was outlined to provide the coast with thirteen structures, together with five lights at other harbour entrances. This plan was adopted after responsibility for navigational aids was given to a national body, the newly-appointed Chief Marine Board (later the Marine Board of New Zealand), in 1862. The Board completed the construction of several new lighthouses, including the earliest stone examples, before becoming the Marine Department in 1866. James Balfour, who had designed the stone lighthouse at Dog Island, was appointed Marine Engineer for the new department. He set about reforming the lighthouse service following the Scottish model with which he was familiar. In the interests of speed and efficiency, Balfour adopted a policy of erecting lighthouses in timber wherever possible. After his death in 1869, this policy was continued through the 1870s and into the early 1880s by John Blackett and Captain Robert Johnson. Blackett was responsible for engineering and technical duties, while Johnson, who had instigated the 1861 plan to provide national lighthouse coverage, was head of the department. Under their stewardship, the 1870s proved to be the peak decade of lighthouse construction in New Zealand, and by 1879 there were some 25 lighthouses guiding vessels around the waters surrounding New Zealand. A further six were erected in the early 1880s before economic depression contributed to a decline in construction activity. The last of the lighthouses completed during this period was the Kaipara North Head light.

Construction Professionals: Designed by Marine Engineer John Blackett (1818-93) in 1876 but construction deferred to 1877-8; Katherine W. Orr. 'Blackett, John - Biography', from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 1-Sep-10. Physical Description and Analysis: Blackett’s Lighthouse is situated in a coastal location near the edge of the Benvenue Cliffs, alongside a walkway 20 metres above sea level at Caroline Bay. It sits at the eastern end of Benvenue Avenue and has around half a dozen trees partly shielding the lighthouse from the ocean view. The GPS coordinates of the lighthouse are E146 0306 N50 83895. The lighthouse is constructed in timber, clad with narrow kauri weather boards. The division of the two lower sections is indicated by a wide encircling board and then an x-braced timber balcony surrounds the upper section. The octagonal copper-clad lantern atop the structure has a metal handrail around its platform. The sash windows are decorated with pediments. In its present location it sits on a concrete pad.