Stirling Point is a landmark at the southern end of the New Zealand town of Bluff, New Zealand. It is notable as the southern end of both

State Highway 1 The following highways are numbered 1. For roads numbered A1, see list of A1 roads. For roads numbered B1, see list of B1 roads. For roads numbered M1, see List of M1 roads. For roads numbered N1, see list of N1 roads. For roads numbered S ...

and

Te Araroa Te Araroa (The Long Pathway) is New Zealand's Long distance footpath, long distance Tramping in New Zealand, tramping route, stretching circa along the length of the country's two main islands from Cape Reinga / Te Rerenga Wairua, Cape Reinga t ...

; both these facilities span the length of the country. Stirling Point hosts a signpost with multiple directional signs; it is one of the most photographed items in Southland. Stirling Point has an anchor chain sculpture which replicates the sculpture on

Stewart Island Stewart Island ( mi, Rakiura, ' glowing skies', officially Stewart Island / Rakiura) is New Zealand's third-largest island, located south of the South Island, across the Foveaux Strait. It is a roughly triangular island with a total land ar ...

Captain William Stirling

The site is named for Captain Stirling (1812–1851) who operated a whaling station for Johnny Jones in this location from 1836 to 1844 when he took on the site's ownership. Stirling, whose real name is believed to be Pankhurst or Pankhirst, was born in

Broadstairs Broadstairs is a coastal town on the Isle of Thanet in the Thanet district of east Kent, England, about east of London. It is part of the civil parish of Broadstairs and St Peter's, which includes St Peter's, and had a population in 2011 of ...

, England and ran away to become a seafarer when he was aged 14.

Stirling Point signpost

The Stirling Point signpost was first erected in 1960. The original wooden signpost had six destination blades including Dog Island,

Ruapuke Island Ruapuke Island is one of the southernmost islands in New Zealand's main chain of islands. It lies to the southeast of Bluff and northeast of Oban on Stewart Island/Rakiura. It was named "Bench Island" upon its discovery by Captain James Cook ...

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by m ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole, Terrestrial South Pole or 90th Parallel South, is one of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipod ...

. After repeated vandalism, a metal post was cemented into place and twelve destination blades were fitted. Administratively, Bluff is part of Invercargill City and the signpost includes

sister cities A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inter ...

of Invercargill. The sister-city relationship with Hobart broke down in the late 1990s. The relationship with

Kumagaya is a city located in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 195,277 in 87,827 households and a population density of 1200 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Kumagaya is one of the largest ...

in Japan was formalised in 1993 and with

Suqian Suqian (, IPA: ) is a prefecture-level city in northern Jiangsu Province, China. It borders Xuzhou to the northwest, Lianyungang to the northeast, Huai'an to the south, and the province of Anhui to the west. History Suqian was said to be the si ...

in China in 2013. When a Scottish tourist pointed out in 2017 that directions, distances and the coordinates displayed by the signpost were wrong, officials reviewed the setup and confirmed the errors. As part of the corrections implemented in late 2018,

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

in Japan was removed from the signpost and replaced with Suqian, but the former sister city Hobart was kept on the sign.

References

{{coord, -46.6133, 168.3575, format=dms, type:landmark_region:NZ, display=title Bluff, New Zealand Tourist attractions in Southland, New Zealand Headlands of Southland, New Zealand State Highway 1 (New Zealand)