Lyttelton Timeball Station

The Lyttelton Timeball Station was a heritage-registered time ball station and prominent local landmark in Lyttelton, New Zealand. The 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.

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 chronometers from their boats offshore. While latitude has long been easily determined first using an astrolabe and later a sextant, timekeeping is one way of enabling mariners to determine their longitude at sea. The key to this was accuracy, as an error of four seconds translates into 6,000 feet (1,800 m) of actual distance at the equator, and 3,000 feet (910 m) at latitude 60 degrees.

John Thomas Peacock, 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. Peacock first promoted the erection of a time ball station in Lyttelton as a Member of the House of Representatives, but his suggestion was rejected. He was also a Member of the Canterbury Provincial Council, 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 and contrasting lighter coloured Oamaru stone. Additions were made to the building between 1877 and 1878 and again in 1912. The astronomical clock originated from Britain and the time ball was supplied by Siemens Brothers of Germany.

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