FIRST AID TEST PASSED

Southland Times, Issue 23651, 28 October 1938, Page 6

FIRST AID TEST PASSED

LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER ON DOG ISLAND SOME COMPENSATIONS FOR LONELINESS A lighthouse keeper from Dog Island, Foveaux Strait, has returned from Dunedin, where he sat for an examination conducted by the St. John Ambulance Association, in possession of a paper certifying that he is capable of “rendering first aid to the injured.” The keeper, Mr Edward Wylie, explained in an interview with The Evening Star that it was not a compulsory qualification, but it helped considerably when promotion in the service was being considered. Dog Island is a small island naif a mile long and very narrow, and life there was rather lonely and monotonous, admitted Mr Wylie. However, there were compensations, and modern amenities made the life of a keeper much more pleasant than it was in earlier days. There were two married couples on the island, with a small boy in one of the families.

The keepers and their families were housed in up-to-date dwellings erected by the Government some five or six years ago, and were fairly comfortable. Radio kept them in touch with the outside world, broadcast music and news being greatly enjoyed. Every four months the Government steamer Matai called at the island with supplies and provisions, and once a fortnight, weather permitting, a launch from Bluff arrived with mail, papers and small goods. The boy’s education was conducted through the Education Department’s correspondence system. The island was mostly flat, said Mr Wylie, with no trees, and its highest point was 50ft above sea level. The light in the tower, which was 120 ft high, was of the incandescent kerosene ’.ype, and during the night mechanism had to be wound every half-hour so that the light might revolve. Shifts were worked by the two keepers during the night and they slept .during the day. Telephonic communication witli the mainland was, used at one time, but because the wire was constantly breaking it was abandoned. The keepers, however, could communicate by. light with Stirling Point, three miles distant, where the Bluff pilot station was established. Live sheep were kept on the island and killed at intervals for meat, and vegetable supplies came from ths. keepers’ own gardens. The Dog Island light was a guide to Bluff Harbour, and kept mariners off rocks in the vicinity. The nearest point on the mainland was Stirling Point, which was named after a whaler. A keeper was kept for three years on an island lightouse and was then transferred to a light on the mainland for a term.