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Story: Taxis and cabs

The southernmost cab

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The southernmost cab

Captioned ‘the most southern gas lamp post and hansom cab in the world’, this cab is probably at Stirling Point, Bluff. Often described as ‘the last lamp post in the world’, it was a popular place to visit and probably provided this cabbie with plenty of work. A cab driver sat in a perilously high position – if his horse shied or bolted, he had a long way to fall, or could be flung over the roof of his cab.

Using this item

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Reference: C.015197

Permission of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Jane Tolerton, Taxis and cabs – Horse-drawn hansom cabs, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/20790/the-southernmost-cab (accessed 5 June 2026).

Story by Jane Tolerton, published 4 February 2010.