Knight's Point

Knight's Point is located on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island.

The 1950s were a time of immense infrastructure development in New Zealand. A major roading project was the building of a road from the South Island's east coast, across Haast Pass and up the west coast to join the Coast road, which previously terminated at Ross.

This was a major engineering undertaking involving the New Zealand Government Ministry of Works. Progress was made by pushing the road across the Haast Pass to near the mouth of the Haast River where a major bridge was constructed to take the road north along the coast. A second crew began construction south of Ross and progressed south.

The two teams met north of Haast at a picturesque place on the coast. As the time for the official opening of the road drew near, officials from the Ministry of Works journeyed to the meeting point to make arrangements for an appropriate commemorative monument by the roadside. In the course of conversation with the construction crew it was mentioned that the location should be named after a senior official of the Ministry of Works employed in the head office in Wellington, the national capital.

The construction crew informed the delegation from Wellington that the area had already been named Knight's Point. The officials inquired who "Knight" was and were informed that he was the surveyor’s dog.

Apparently Ministry of Works documents indicate that Knight's Point was named after "the obscure dog of an obscure employee of the Ministry of Works."

Tourist information provided about Knight's Point for a number of years have confirmed that Knight's Point was named after the dog of an employee of the Ministry of Works.