Puysegur Point is a

headland A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, Jo ...

located in the far southwest of the

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

of New Zealand. It lies within

Fiordland National Park Fiordland National Park is a national park in the south-west corner of South Island of New Zealand. It is the largest of the 13 National parks of New Zealand, national parks in New Zealand, with an area covering , and a major part of the Te W� ...

on the southern head of

Preservation Inlet Rakituma / Preservation Inlet is the southernmost fiord in Fiordland National Park and lies on the southwest corner of the South Island of New Zealand. With an area of , it is the fourth largest fiord in New Zealand, after Tamatea / Dusky Sound, ...

and is west-northwest of

Invercargill Invercargill ( , ) is the southernmost and westernmost list of cities in New Zealand, city in New Zealand, and one of the Southernmost settlements, southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland Region, Southlan ...

. The name 'Puysegur' was bestowed by Lieutenant

Jules Dumont d'Urville Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville (; 23 May 1790 – 8 May 1842) was a French List of explorers, explorer and French Navy, naval officer who explored the south and western Pacific, Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica. As a botanist an ...

or Midshipman

Jules de Blosseville Jules Poret de Blosseville (29 July 1802 – August 1833) was a French naval officer, geographer and explorer. Born in 1802, he joined the French Navy at the age of 16. From 1822 to 1825, he participated in an expedition that explored the South Pa ...

during a South Pacific expedition of ''La Coquille''; probably in honour of the French naval officer Antoine-Hyacinthe-Anne de Chastenet de Puységur (1752–1809).

Geography

Puysegur Point has been said to be the windiest place in New Zealand, with gales recorded on an average of 48 days a year. The

2009 Dusky Sound earthquake The 2009 Dusky Sound earthquake was a 7.8 earthquake that struck a remote region of Fiordland, New Zealand, on 15 July at 21:22 local time (09:22 UTC). It had an initially–reported depth of , and an epicentre near Dusky Sound in Fiordland ...

pushed Puysegur Point closer to Australia by .

Biodiversity

Humpback whale The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the monotypic taxon, only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh u ...

s pass the point during annual migrations.

Lighthouse

A lighthouse on the point was first illuminated on 1 March 1879. The original wooden lighthouse was destroyed in an arson attack in 1942. The lighthouse was operated by permanent lighthouse keepers from its establishment in 1879 until it was temporarily shutdown in 1980, with a further period of staffed operation from 1987 until it was fully automated and destaffed in 1989.

The landing

The main access to Puysegur Point and the lighthouse is via a track from a beach landing point at Otago Retreat — a narrow waterway between the mainland and Coal Island in Preservation Inlet to the north west of the point. The name Otago Retreat originates from the passage of the schooner ''Otago'' that found shelter in this narrow passage during a voyage accompanying the survey ship HMS ''Acheron'' on a survey of the South Island around 1850–51. There are buildings remaining at the landing that formerly served the lighthouse. One of the buildings is a

Department of Conservation Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

shelter, known as the Landing Shed.

Climate

References

External links

Puysegur Point lighthouse
at Maritime New Zealand
Puysegur Point - Furthest Frontier II - EP7
video at Youtube {{Fiordland Lighthouses in New Zealand Headlands of the Southland Region Landforms of Fiordland Transport buildings and structures in the Southland Region Fiordland National Park