The Katiki Point Lighthouse, also known as Moeraki Lighthouse, shone for the first time on April 22, 1878, following several accidents on the dangerous reefs around the area, to make the area safer for ships that sailed past on their way to Port Chalmers

Port Chalmers

Port Chalmers is a suburb and the main port of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand, with a population of 3,000. Port Chalmers lies ten kilometres inside Otago Harbour, some 15 kilometres northeast from Dunedin's city centre....

, Dunedin

Dunedin

Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago Region. It is considered to be one of the four main urban centres of New Zealand for historic, cultural, and geographic reasons. Dunedin was the largest city by territorial land area until...

. The lighthouse was built between the settlements of Moeraki

Moeraki

Moeraki is a small fishing village on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It was once the location of a whaling station. In the 1870s, local interests believed it could become the main port for the north Otago area and a railway line, the Moeraki Branch, was built to the settlement...

 and Katiki

Katiki

Katiki is a small settlement in North Otago, New Zealand. It lies between the townships of Palmerston and Hampden on State Highway 1 at the northern end of Katiki Beach, close to the Moeraki Peninsula. The tip of the peninsula, Katiki Point, is the site of Katiki Point Lighthouse...

, on the tip of the Moeraki Peninsula, which is known as Katiki Point or Moeraki Point.

The point has a long history of wrecks, notably the wrecking of the ancestral waka

Waka (canoe)

Waka are Māori watercraft, usually canoes ranging in size from small, unornamented canoes used for fishing and river travel, to large decorated war canoes up to long...

 atua on a return trip from Hawaiiki, leaving some of the cargo being on the beach at Katiki, below the lighthouse. Tradition holds that the remains of the cargo are the Moeraki Boulders

Moeraki Boulders

The Moeraki Boulders are unusually large and spherical boulders lying along a stretch of Koekohe Beach on the wave cut Otago coast of New Zealand between Moeraki and Hampden, and are located at . They occur scattered either as isolated or clusters of boulders within a stretch of beach where they...

.

The wooden tower stands 26 feet (8 m) high and 190 feet (58 m) above sea level. The light flashes on for 6 seconds and off for 6 seconds, and can be seen for 10 nautical miles (18.5 km). The light-emitting diode beacon is supplied by mains electricity, with a battery for standby power. The original lens operated with a 1000-watt lamp supplied by mains electricity, with a diesel generator for standby power. It can still be seen in the lantern room at the top of the tower.

The light was fully automated in 1975 and the lighthouse keeper was withdrawn. The operation of the light is now fully automatic and is monitored by a computer and Maritime New Zealand

Maritime New Zealand

Maritime New Zealand is a Crown entity responsible for protecting the maritime environment within New Zealand and maintaining safety and security....

 staff in Wellington

Wellington

Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...

. The lighthouse was restored by Maritime New Zealand in 2006.