Beacon Hill - Wellington Harbour Radio

Above the entrance to Wellington Harbour, is the Beacon Hill Signal Station where the incoming and outgoing traffic to Wellington Harbour has been monitored since 1866.
Officially called Wellington Harbour Radio, the station is well known to all commercial shipping and a large number of recreational craft. It plays the role for the harbour which the air control tower, located on the next isthmus, plays for planes at nearby Wellington Airport. From the station’s site 135 meters above the harbour the staff monitor the main channel and the ships waiting to enter the harbour day and night. The station thus functions as the first point of contact for ships arriving and departing Wellington Harbour, providing information regarding the current shipping movements, prevailing weather conditions and any relevant navigation warnings.
All shipping intending to enter the harbour must contact the station to report their intentions, passenger numbers and whether there is any illness on board. Larger vessels are required to collect a pilot before entering the harbour but inter-island ferries, which have qualified staff are exempt.
Staff are on duty 24 hours, with a team of six people working in rotation, watching commercial and recreational vessels. The job is an important one which now has the assistance of the latest technology - radio channels, weather and computer equipment.
When the station was first manned in 1866, the only shelter for the lone lookout was a barrel. On the exposed site it would have been cold and often wet and windy.
A subsidiary station was established at Mount Victoria to relay flag or lamp signals to the ships with fires lit to send a message to ships at night. A pilot would then row out, to climb on board and guide the vessel into the harbour. The first building for the Signal Station was built in 1899 with telephone communications established in 1909.
The derelict bunker alongside the Signal station is thought to relate back to the establishment of coastal fortifications around 1885 in response to the fear of a Russian invasion.