BOOKS
WORDS: M A RI A N NE T R E MA I N E
Metaphors and meanings Delving deeper into the symbolism of our historic places Metaphors are important in history. Although people tend to see history as being concerned with facts, it is more concerned with interpretation, and, to illuminate the more elusive shades of meaning when interpreting history, metaphors are often useful. The books in this column show examples of the ways in which metaphors expand meanings. The first two books, The Akaroa Lighthouse: How a Small Community Rescued an Important Piece of their History, by Ben Hutchinson (Akaroa Lighthouse Preservation Society Inc., $35), and Sunset to Sunrise: An Illustrated History of New Zealand’s Lighthouses, by Timothy Nicol (New Holland
52 Ngahuru • Autumn
Publishers, $39.99), deal with the history of lighthouses in New Zealand. The first tells a story of determined community preservation; the second records the histories of particular lighthouses and the courageous spirit required by lighthouse keepers to live in often very inhospitable and dangerous surroundings. For example, in Sunset to Sunrise, Timothy’s caption under a photograph of the Karori Rock tower (page 152) says of its site, a small, craggy, barren rock: “Access by helicopter was exciting, as the radius of the whirling blades almost exactly equalled the distance from the tower to the last seagull on the right
(the seagull is on the edge of the rock), necessitating a high degree of personal agility with the helicopter ‘on the hover’”. This level of excitement, mixed with the privation experienced when stores ran low, is not what most of us seek in our working lives, but obviously lighthouse keepers were equal to these challenges. Nevertheless, lighthouses do hold a fascination for most of us. The lighthouse beam and its importance as a beacon to sailors provides a metaphor for everything that functions as a guiding light in our lives, giving the lighthouse its strong, symbolic intensity. In contrast, The Akaroa Lighthouse concentrates on a single lighthouse and its history, as well as the heroic community effort made to achieve its preservation after it was decommissioned in December 1977. New technology – automatic lights – had made it obsolete. A new and modern lighthouse had been commissioned and the Marine Department had decided either to burn the old lighthouse or push it into the sea. When the residents of Akaroa realised that the old lighthouse was going to meet such an ignominious fate, a public meeting was called, and that
meeting led to the inception of the Akaroa Lighthouse Preservation Society. The society had to find a site and organise the shifting of the old lighthouse to preserve it as a part of local history. The story of the eventual success, despite many setbacks, is an absorbing account and will encourage other community groups in their attempts to preserve their own local historic buildings. Reading this book will make those who have problems achieving their conservation ambitions realise that if the Akaroa lighthouse could be saved, then almost anything must be possible.
The third lighthouse book, Oliver Goes to Stephens Island Lighthouse, by Grant Sheehan and illustrated by Rosalind Clark (Phantom House, $25), is the third in this series of children’s books about lighthouses. Oliver’s parents take him to Stephens Island Lighthouse because they are writing a story and supplying photos about the island to a geographic magazine as part of their work. Oliver is very excited, anticipating the trip, but it turns out to be even more
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