Cape Brett Hut - booked!
Date: 21 February 2008
Visitors to the historic Cape Brett Hut will soon have a "good read" to relax with on arrival.
Christen McAlpine, who has been researching the lighthouse site for the Department of Conservation for the last six months, is compiling all the best bits into an informative 'hut book.'
Christen McAlpine at Cape Brett
"The aim is to give visitors to the hut a taste of what daily life was like for keepers and their families," says Christen, a Wellington-based archaeologist. "There are some great stories about how they coped with extreme weather and isolation, and there a lot of funny stories too."
"Oh no" moments included several months' supply of ice-cream falling off the loading hook into the sea: although it was rescued, the ice-cream - or as much as possible - had to be enjoyed immediately by all residents.
"Another really good story is of the maternity party called for Mrs Sears, wife of the head keeper. The north westerly was too rough for the boat to land anyone, so they had to walk from Deep Water Cove - several hours, and with a stretcher - to deliver the baby girl 12 hours later."
Christen added that she and two fellow co-workers had a taste of the Cape's weather just before Christmas when a mapping expedition finished with a long, wet walk to Deep Water Cove because it was too rough for the DOC boat to collect them from the lighthouse landing.
The book will also include information about where visitors can find the remains of structures such as the fowl house, a result of the department's historic team uncovering and mapping sites at the Cape during the last few months.
Christen's research - including conversations with former Cape dwellers as well as many hours in the archives at Maritime New Zealand, National Archives and the Alexander Turnbull Library - has resulted in a substantial archive of about 5000photographs plus correspondence files, maps and blueprints.
The Eastern Bay of Islands site is the focus of a restoration project which began a year ago with the repainting of the 1910 lighthouse. A Friends of Cape Brett database has been established to harness potential volunteers who might wish to help with ongoing work, and an email newsletter available to anyone who is interested. Christen can be contacted through cmcalpine@doc.govt.nz