Always the Sound of the Sea: The Daily Lives of NZ's Lighthouse Keepers

By Helen Beaglehole (Craig Potton Publishing, RRP $49.99)

If Southlanders felt shaky after July's earthquake, they should spare a thought for the men atop Farewell Spit lighthouse during the 1929 Murchison quake.

They were cleaning lenses when the ground began rolling, and the weighty apparatus started hopping across the floor.

They fought to keep it from toppling, abandoning the post only when all seemed lost.

Fortuitously the worst of the shaking ceased, but the photo indicates why they might struggle to descend the steps in the 33-minute quake, or why they were spooked by five months of aftershocks.

This is one of the dramatic episodes Helen Beaglehole has included in her vivid compilation of lighthouse keeper experiences, taken from official reports, diaries, correspondence and interviews with surviving veterans.

Beaglehole published Lighting the Coast, a history of lighthouses, in 2006, and this thoroughly readable, fascinating sequel, focuses on staff experience rather than the official history of the system.

A rich selection of photos emphasises the geographical remoteness and inaccessibility of lighthouse sites and the environments in which keepers and families lived and worked.

Extreme weather impacted on not just the difficulty of maintaining the light, but of landing people and supplies where there was no land access, and the challenges of daily living. This could be compounded by the human factor, be it bureaucratic battles with penny-pinching head office or on-station squabbles.

The work involved much drudgery, especially before electrification, although this was the case in most occupations. But for those who liked the life, especially if they were interested in wildlife, weather patterns, and who had hobbies, there were many sources of satisfaction.

As Beaglehole comments, the ability to find and accumulate pleasure from unsophisticated, unremarkable things marked out those who enjoyed the life from those who did not. Many of the stories relate to lights around the southern coast, but, infuriatingly, the book offers no map showing lighthouse locations, and no index, which is a major omission where material is arranged thematically, with inevitable subject overlaps.

It's also difficult to follow the narrative of any one individual or family.

Maybe the book has to be read in conjunction with the earlier volume, but the absence of such standard features from a publication of this quality is extraordinary.

- © Fairfax NZ News