The Lyttelton Timeball Station is a heritage-registered

time ball A time ball or timeball is a time-signalling device. It consists of a large, painted wooden or metal ball that is dropped at a predetermined time, principally to enable navigators aboard ships offshore to verify the setting of their marine chron ...

station and prominent local landmark in Lyttelton, New Zealand. The original station was significantly damaged by a series of earthquakes and aftershocks in 2010 and 2011, and finally collapsed on 13 June 2011 after a magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The tower was subsequently reconstructed, reopening in November 2018.

Context

A time ball is a large painted wooden or metal ball that drops at a predetermined time, principally to enable sailors to check their

marine chronometer A marine chronometer is a precision timepiece that is carried on a ship and employed in the determination of the ship's position by celestial navigation. It is used to determine longitude by comparing Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), or in the modern ...

s from their boats offshore. While

latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...

has long been easily determined first using an astrolabe and later a

sextant A sextant is a doubly reflecting navigation instrument that measures the angular distance between two visible objects. The primary use of a sextant is to measure the angle between an astronomical object and the horizon for the purposes of celes ...

, timekeeping is one way of enabling mariners to determine their

longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east–west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek letter l ...

at sea. The key to this was accuracy, as an error of four seconds translates into of actual distance at the

equator The equator is a circle of latitude, about in circumference, that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the North and South poles. The term can als ...

, and at latitude 60 degrees.

History

John Thomas Peacock John Thomas Peacock MLC JP (1827 – 20 October 1905) was a New Zealand businessman, philanthropist and politician. He came to Canterbury in 1844, several years before organised settlement started. Early life Peacock was born in 1827 in the H ...

, a businessman and politician, first came to Lyttelton in 1844. He built the first substantial wharf and was well established by the time large numbers of settlers started arriving six years later with the

First Four Ships The First Four Ships refers to the four sailing vessels chartered by the Canterbury Association which left Plymouth, England, in September 1850 to transport the first English settlers to new homes in Canterbury, New Zealand. The colonists or s ...

. Peacock first promoted the erection of a time ball station in Lyttelton as a Member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

, but his suggestion was rejected. He was also a Member of the

Canterbury Provincial Council The Canterbury Province was a province of New Zealand from 1853 until the abolition of provincial government in 1876. Its capital was Christchurch. History Canterbury was founded in December 1850 by the Canterbury Association of influential Eng ...

, and his suggestion in 1870 for a Lyttelton time ball found support. It was the third time ball in New Zealand, after Wellington (1864) and Dunedin (1868). The station, which was designed by local architect Thomas Cane, was completed in 1876. The castle-like complex initially comprised an octagonal tower supporting the time ball and a three-storey building which provided accommodation, work areas as well as housing the clock. The materials used were local

scoria Scoria is a pyroclastic, highly vesicular, dark-colored volcanic rock that was ejected from a volcano as a molten blob and cooled in the air to form discrete grains or clasts.Neuendorf, K.K.E., J.P. Mehl, Jr., and J.A. Jackson, eds. (2005) '' ...

and contrasting lighter coloured

Oamaru stone Oamaru stone, sometimes called whitestone, is a hard, compact limestone, quarried at Weston, near Oamaru in Otago, New Zealand. Oamaru stone was used on many of the grand public buildings in the towns and cities of the southern South Island, e ...

. Additions were made to the building between 1877 and 1878 and again in 1912. The

astronomical clock An astronomical clock, horologium, or orloj is a clock with special mechanisms and dials to display astronomical information, such as the relative positions of the Sun, Moon, zodiacal constellations, and sometimes major planets. Definition ...

originated from Britain and the time ball was supplied by

Siemens Brothers Siemens Brothers and Company Limited was an electrical engineering design and manufacturing business in London, England. It was first established as a branchThe company started with a small factory at 12 Millbank Row, Westminster SW1, London, nea ...

of Germany. The tower was damaged during the

2010 Canterbury earthquake The 2010 Canterbury earthquake (also known as the Darfield earthquake) struck the South Island of New Zealand with a moment magnitude of 7.1 at on , and had a maximum perceived intensity of X (''Extreme'') on the Mercalli intensity scale. Som ...

and the operation of the time ball stopped. The buildings were significantly damaged during the February

2011 Christchurch earthquake A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. local time (23:51 UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the entire of the Canterbury region in the South Island, centred south-east ...

. The New Zealand Heritage Trust decided that it would be dismantled after engineering advice indicated that the building could not be saved due to public safety concerns, though they hoped to salvage the time ball mechanism and were investigating whether reconstruction was a viable option. The tower collapsed during an aftershock on 13 June 2011. On 25 May 2013, it was announced that the tower and ball would be restored, and that funds were to be sought from the community to rebuild the rest of the station. The tower rebuild took place between July 2017 and November 2018, and the area has since reopened to the public.

Heritage listing

On 7 April 1983, the building was registered as a Category I heritage item, with the registration number being 43. Including Lyttelton, there were only five time ball stations in working order worldwide at the time, and the one in Lyttelton was the only one remaining in New Zealand. The heritage listing was withdrawn following the station's destruction in the Canterbury earthquakes.

References

External links

"Time for a Change"
New Zealand Historic Places Trust article, 2008
Timeball 3D Model
Sketchfab 3D model, by ThunderDrone
International conference – Rebuilt
Paper about the scan and the survey of timeball {{coord, -43.606449, 172.726765, region:NZ-CAN_type:landmark, display=title NZHPT Category I listings in Canterbury, New Zealand Tourist attractions in Christchurch Transport infrastructure completed in 1876 Towers completed in 1876 Buildings and structures demolished as a result of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake Lyttelton, New Zealand 1870s architecture in New Zealand