Leaning Christchurch lighthouse guided to its own safe waters

Jake Kenny Reporter from Community News

A symbol of safety in Christchurch's port for 130 years has returned to its rightful home after close to a decade in storage.

The region's September 2010 earthquake left the Lyttelton Lighthouse leaning over precariously after the foundations of the harbour’s eastern mole on which it stood subsided almost two metres.

It rested that way for eight months, tilting at an angle of 15 degrees – four times that of the Leaning Tower of Pisa – until it was rescued in May 2011. It was then carried by barge across the harbour to safe land, stored carefully near the entrance to the Lyttelton Tunnel.

With the mole, or breakwater, repaired as part of the project to build a cruise-ship berth in Lyttelton, the lighthouse was last week returned to its original spot and affixed to new foundations.

International shipping regulations mean the lighthouse will be off-limits to the public, although people will have a good view of it from nearby Naval Point – and of course from the sea.

And while its days as a navigation necessity came to an end in the early 1990s, the glow of its paraffin lamp replaced by modern lights, the Lyttelton Lighthouse will still shine out across the harbour.