were part-time. Castlepoint is part of the Whareama statistical area. Marae The local Whakataki marae is affiliated with the Ngāti Kahungunu hapū of Te Hika a Pāpāuma ki Wairarapa. Its wharenui burned down 1960. Annual horse races Remote from other settlements Castlepoint's beach has been home since 1872 to an historic annual horse race meeting when "local station hands rode on farm hacks competing for bottles of rum and any stray coins". Lighthouse The Castle Point Lighthouse is a lighthouse near the village of Castlepoint in the Wellington Region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is owned and operated by Maritime New Zealand. In the early days of the 20th century Castle Point was one of the few lighthouses with easy access to a school. The Creamer family came there in 1918 or 1919 and the eldest son Eric had to complete five years of education in three years, so that he could go on to secondary school, there having been little education in previous locations where the family had been stationed. This aspect of the Keeper's lives seems to have been overlooked by the Marine Department. The light was built in 1913 and was originally fueled by oil. In 1954 the oil lamp was replaced with an electric one powered by a local diesel generator. This was subsequently replaced by a connection to the mains grid in 1961. The lighthouse, is popular with holiday makers and the lighthouse itself is sometimes referred to as "The Holiday Light". Completed on 12 January 1913, it was one of the last manned lights built in New Zealand, but has been fully automated since 1988 and is now managed from a central control room in Wellington. It is a popular tourist attraction for holidaymakers to the area, although it is not open to the public. The lighthouse is built out of steel sheets riveted together. This is an unusual method of construction for a lighthouse and the only one so built in New Zealand. At sea, the light can be seen 22 miles away, and was used by sailors coming from South America to establish a point of reference when making for Wellington Harbour. A camera set up at the top of an outcrop looking down on the lighthouse gives people a chance to see it on live feed castlepointlighthouse.com. In December 2017 the lighthouse was controversially installed with multi-colour LED