By DANIEL JACKSON
When Des Coneglan locked the gate at the Devonport signal station on Mt Victoria yesterday he ended a job continuously performed there for nearly 160 years.
The 69-year-old maritime signalman is the last in a long line of people who have staffed a signal station on that spot since
the 1840s.
Signallers at the station first used flags and then radio as part of an important communication link between ships and harbour pilots.
They also kept an eye on traffic in the harbour, the weather and performed numerous other duties.
Now, thanks to radar, a video camera and a microwave link, information gathered by equipment at the station is automatically passed on to a Ports of Auckland control room across the harbour in Mechanics Bay.
When Mr Coneglan started at the station in 1988 there were four full-time signallers working in shifts.
He retired in 1996 but continued helping out when needed.
That ended yesterday when he padlocked the gate for the final time at 6.30 am, after a 12-hour shift.
Mr Coneglan had spent the previous three weeks helping to iron out bugs in the new automated system.
He said he was sad to leave behind what he considered was the best view in Auckland.
From Mt Victoria he had a panoramic view of the harbour, the city and its surrounds and, on a clear day, could see the Coromandel Peninsula and up to 30km out to sea.
"Even after I'd been working up here for years I could still find things in the view which I'd never seen before."
Ports of Auckland corporate general manager Karren Beanland said the station had been working well since becoming fully automated.
