SIGNAL STATION.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 122, 25 May 1932, Page 7

SIGNAL STATION.

SITE ON MOUNT VICTORIA. CONTROL QUESTION FINALISED. Finality in regard to the future of the signal station site on the summit of Mount Victoria, Devonport, has been reached. At yesterday afternoon's meeting of the Auckland Harbour Board it was decided that the email area upon which the signal station now stands should be dealt with under the provisions of the 'Public Reserves, Domains, and National Parks Act, 1925, and the control of the area vested in the board, with provision for a right of way through the Domain, which occupies the greater part of the mountain. Under the arrangement arrived at the signal station site will be available to the board if ever it is required. The station itself has been dismantled, but the mast has been left standing. The signal station on Mount Victoria was in existence for nearly threequarters of a century. History has it that early voyagers from Tahiti first saw Auckland from the summit of the mountain and that the Maoris used it as a lookout point in the days when tribal warfare was rife. Monsieur Lottin, who was with Captain D. d'Urville when he entered the harbour in 1827, took observations from the mountain. Even before the station was established on the summit 70 years ago the mountain was used for signalling. The building of a new station on Tiri Tiri Island in 191marked the beginning of the decline of the Mount Victoria station, and the establishment of wireless communication between Tiri and the port hastened its end. The decision to dismantle the station was reached by the economy committee of the Auckland Harbour Board in October last.