Location | Booby Island, Queensland, Australia |
---|---|
Coordinates | 10°36′20″S141°54′33″E / 10.6056°S 141.9092°E |
Tower | |
Constructed | 1890 |
Construction | timber frame clad with galvanised iron [1] |
Automated | 1992 |
Height | 59 feet (18 m) [2] |
Shape | conical tower with balcony and lantern |
Markings | white (tower), red (dome) |
Heritage | listed on the Queensland Heritage Register, listed on the Register of the National Estate |
Light | |
Focal height | 121 feet (37 m) [3] |
Lens | second order Fresnel lens |
Range | 20 nmi (37 km; 23 mi) |
Characteristic | Fl W 10s. [4] |
Booby Island Light is an active heritage-listed lighthouse located on Booby Island in the Shire of Torres, near the tip of Cape York Peninsula, west of Prince of Wales Island, within the Endeavour Strait, Queensland, Australia. It marks the western entrance to the navigation channel through the Torres Strait. [5] It was the last of the major lights to be constructed along the Queensland coast. [6]
The colony of Queensland was formed in 1859. In 1862, the Queensland government appointed the first Portmaster, Commander George Poynter Heath. During the following years, several committees were held, but none of them recommended the erection of a lighthouse on Booby Island. It was Heath who first recommended the construction of such a lighthouse, at the Intercolonial Conference of Marine Departments in 1873, [6] where a first order light was finally recommended by the delegates. [7] However, this recommendation was not followed through, and it was only in August 1885 that Heath referred to the lighthouse again, as trade through the Torres Strait increased, and a traffic channel west of the Prince of Wales Island was established. Formal approval took four more years, and tenders for the lighthouse were called in April 1899. The accepted tender of £ 3329 was by the brothers John and Jacob Rooney of Maryborough, which also constructed Sandy Cape Light, Cape Bowling Green Light, Cowan Cowan Point Light, Cape Capricorn Light and Lady Elliot Island Light. The light was first exhibited on 24 June 1890, and the total cost of construction was £ 6,500. Residences for the lighthouse keepers were also constructed in 1890. [6]
The original lens was a second order Chance Brothers Fresnel lens, with a focal radius of 800 millimetres (31 in), mounted on a rotating pedestal with mercury bearings. The light source was an oil wick burner with an intensity of 20,000 cd. In 1917 the light source was upgraded to an 85 millimetres (3.3 in) vaporised kerosene mantle, with an intensity of 120,000 cd. [7]
In 1961 a radio beacon was installed. In 1963 the lighthouse was converted to electricity. The light source at that time was a 120 Volt 1,000 Watt tungsten-halogen lamp providing 1,000,000 cd and visible for 26 nautical miles (48 km; 30 mi). The light characteristic was one flash every four seconds (Fl.W. 4s). A tide gauge was installed in 1970. [7]
In November 1991 the power source was converted to solar power. The original lens and the pedestal were removed, the mercury drained, and the entire apparatus replaced with a modern rotating mechanism. The original apparatus now resides in the Thursday Island Museum. The battery banks were installed in the ground floor of the tower. [7] The light characteristic was changed to the current, one white flash every ten seconds (Fl.W. 10s), [4] and it is visible for 20 nautical miles (37 km; 23 mi). [8] The light was fully automated and demanned in 1992. [6]
The lighthouse is conical, 18 metres (59 ft) [2] high, made of timber frame clad with galvanised iron. The tower is topped by the original 10 feet 1 inch (3.07 m) diameter Chance Brothers lantern. It is painted white, with red dome [7] of sheet copper. The dome is topped by a rounded knob and a weather vane. [6]
The residences include four cottages, three for the resident lighthouse keepers and an additional relief quarters. [7] The resident keeper residences were built in 1890, and then renovated twice, in the 1920s and 1960s. [6] They are timber-framed, clad with weatherboards and fibre cement. [6] Also associated with these quarters is a glasshouse, timber-framed with external concrete block walls and a corrugated asbestos cement roof. [6] The relief quarters, built in the late 1960s or early 1970s, [9] are timber-framed with external walls of asbestos sheeting and a roof of corrugated asbestos cement. [6]
Other buildings in the station include a radio equipment building that doubles as an office, a powerhouse with a fuel store, the tide gauge hut, the radio beacon transmitter building and a workshop. The radio equipment building is timber-framed with external painted concrete block walls and corrugated asbestos cement roof. [6] The powerhouse and the fuel store are constructed of concrete blocks with a corrugated zinc sheeted roof. [6] The powerhouse houses three diesel alternators which provide power to the station. [7] The tide gauge hut, constructed in 1970, is timber-framed with fibre cement sheeting, a galvanised metal deck and an aluminium louvre mechanism. The radio beacon transmitter building, constructed in 1961, is built of concrete blocks with timber framed doors and aluminium hopper windows. Finally, the workshop is timber-framed with fibre cement walls and corrugated asbestos cement roof. [6]
The light is operated by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. The site is managed by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service. The location is accessible only by boat, and a special permit is required for landing. Both the tower and the location are closed to the public. [5]
The lighthouse was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register in 1998. [10]
Cape Byron Light, also called Cape Byron Lightstation, is an active heritage-listed lighthouse and now interpretative centre, interpretative space, maritime museum, administration office, retail building, accommodation, tourist attraction and visitor attraction located at Lighthouse Road, Byron Bay, Cape Byron, Byron Shire, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Charles Harding and Cecil W. Darley and built from 1899 to 1901 by Messrs Mitchell & King. It is also known as Cape Byron Lightstation, Byron Bay Lighthouse, Cape Byron Headlan and Cape Byron Headland Reserve. The property is owned by NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service.
Bustard Head Light is an active lighthouse located on the southeast tip of Bustard Head, a headland, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) northwest of Seventeen Seventy, in the Australian state of Queensland, within the Eurimbula National Park and locality of Eurimbula. Built in 1868, it is the second-oldest lightstation in the state, following Cape Moreton Light, and the first to be built in Queensland after its formation in 1859. It is also one of the first in Australia to be constructed using bolted prefabricated segments of cast iron, and one of only two such lighthouses in Queensland, the other being its sibling, Sandy Cape Light. It serves as the central relay for Dent Island Light, Pine Islet Light and Lady Elliot Island Light and as the radio check post for Cape Capricorn Light, Sandy Cape Light and Double Island Point Light.
Sandy Cape Light is a heritage-listed active lighthouse located on Sandy Cape, the most northern point on K'gari, Queensland, Australia. It stands about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) southwest of the northeastern tip of the island. It is the tallest lighthouse in Queensland. Built in 1870, it is the second major lighthouse to be built in Queensland after its formation in 1859. It is one of the first lighthouses in Australia to be constructed using bolted prefabricated segments of cast iron, and one of only two such lighthouses in Queensland, the other being its sibling, Bustard Head Light.
New Caloundra Light, also known as New Caloundra Head Light, is an inactive lighthouse located in Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast in South East Queensland, Australia. It stands on Canberra Terrace near downtown Caloundra. The lighthouse was active from 1968 to 1992. It has a unique design resembling an airport control tower, the only surviving example of a lighthouse of this design in Australia.
Sea Hill Lighthouse, also known as Sea Hill Point Light or Little Sea Hill Light, is a lighthouse on the northwest point of Curtis Island, Gladstone Region, Queensland, Australia. Its purpose was to mark the east side of the entrance to Keppel Bay, on passage to Fitzroy River and Port Alma. The first lighthouse at the locations was constructed in 1873 or 1876, moved in the 1920s, and is now on display at the Gladstone Maritime Museum. A second lighthouse was constructed in 1895 and its state is unclear.
Grassy Hill Light, also known as Cooktown Light, is an active lighthouse located on Grassy Hill above Cooktown, Queensland, Australia, on the south side of the entrance to Endeavour River.
Goods Island Light is an active lighthouse located on the highest point of Goods Island (Palilag), an island in the Torres Strait, belonging to Queensland, Australia. It serves as the rear light of the Goods Island Range, pointing out the entrance to Normanby Sound.
Cape Capricorn Light is an active heritage-listed lighthouse located on Cape Capricorn, a coastal headland on the northeast point of Curtis Island, in Gladstone Region, Central Queensland, Australia. The lighthouse, constructed in 1964, is the third at this site, following a timber frame lighthouse constructed in 1875 and a concrete lighthouse constructed around 1937. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 31 August 2001.
Cape Bowling Green Light is an active lighthouse located on Cape Bowling Green, a lengthy headland ending with a long low sandspit, about 30 kilometres (19 mi) from Ayr, Queensland, Australia. The lighthouse is at the end of the headland, near the base of the sandspit. The first lighthouse at the location, established in 1874, was moved multiple times. It was prefabricated in Brisbane, shipped to the location, moved twice due to coastal erosion and finally transferred for display at the Australian National Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour in Sydney.
Lady Elliot Island Light is an active lighthouse located on Lady Elliot Island, the southernmost coral cay of the Great Barrier Reef, 46 nautical miles north-east of Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia. The lighthouse is located on the western side of the island. It was the third lighthouse erected in Queensland after its formation in 1859 and the first in Australia to be constructed of a timber frame clad with iron plates. The original lighthouse was deactivated in 1995 and the light was replaced by a modern skeletal tower standing close to the original lighthouse.
Cape Moreton Light, also listed as North Point Range Rear Light, is a heritage-listed active lighthouse located on Cape Moreton, a rocky headland located at the north eastern tip of Moreton Island, a large sand island on the eastern side of Moreton Bay, on the coast of South East Queensland, Australia. It marks the northern entrance to Moreton Bay and Brisbane and also serves as the rear light for the North Point Range. With its two distinctive red bands, it also serves as a daymark. It is the oldest lighthouse in Queensland, and the only one to be built by the New South Wales Government before the separation of Queensland, which took place in 1859. It is also the only lighthouse in Queensland to be built of stone.
Cape Cleveland Light is an active heritage-listed lighthouse located on the northern tip of Cape Cleveland, a promontory projecting into the Coral Sea west of Cleveland Bay in the locality of Cape Cleveland about 40 kilometres (25 mi) east of Townsville, Queensland, Australia. The lighthouse marks the northern point of the Cape, and the entrance to Cleveland Bay.
Cleveland Point Light, also known as Point Cleveland Light, is a lighthouse located on the north-eastern tip of Cleveland Point, at Cleveland, Redland City, Queensland, Australia. It overlooks Moreton Bay to the east and Raby Bay to the west. The old lighthouse was established in 1864-1865 as a wooden hexagonal tower. It is one of only two surviving lighthouses of this form, the other being Old Burnett Heads Light. A newer light, constructed of a concrete post, replaced it in 1976, and the old lighthouse was relocated a short distance away, where it stands today. The newer light was removed in 2009.
Dent Island Light is an active lighthouse on Dent Island, a small island off the coast of Queensland, Australia, part of the Whitsunday Group of the Whitsunday Islands. Located on the southwest tip of the island, the light guides ships navigating the Whitsunday Passage, between Whitsunday Island and the islands to the west, and marks the Dent Island Passage.
Double Island Point Light is an active lighthouse located at the summit of Double Island Point, a coastal headland within the Cooloola section of the Great Sandy National Park. It is located at the southern end of Wide Bay, 70 kilometres (43 mi) north of Noosa Heads, Queensland, Australia.
Pine Islet Light, also known as Percy Isles Light, is an active lighthouse located at Pine Islet, a small islet belonging to the Percy Isles group of the Northumberland Islands, about 130 kilometres (81 mi) southeast of Mackay, Queensland, Australia. The original lighthouse, established 1885, was active for a hundred years, until it was deactivated in 1985, by then the last kerosene powered lighthouse in Australia. It was relocated to the Mackay Marina in 1985 and restored to full working condition, making it the last fully functional kerosene operated lighthouse in the world. At the original location now stands a modern fiberglass tower.
North Reef Light is an active lighthouse located on North Reef, a 5.6 square kilometres (2.2 sq mi) planar reef, about 120 kilometres (75 mi) northeast of Gladstone, Queensland, Australia in the Capricorn and Bunker Group. The lighthouse was constructed on a migratory patch of sand inside a fringing coral reef, which over the years disappeared and reappeared, as sand was washed away and accumulated, and is now a vegetated sandy island. Its construction is unique, having a hollow concrete base that both gives it resistance to the shifting nature of the sandbar and serves as a freshwater tank. As such, it is considered one of the major achievement in Australian lighthouse construction. It is also notable in that due to the harsh conditions, only bachelors were allowed to serve as lighthouse keepers. At 24 metres (79 ft) it is also the tallest of Queensland's timber-framed iron clad lighthouses.
Low Isles Light, also known as Low Islets Light or Low Island Light, is an active lighthouse located on Low Island, a coral cay which together with Woody Island forms the Low Isles group, about 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) northeast of Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia. The island is situated on the western edge of the main shipping channel into the harbour of Port Douglas, and it marks the entrance to the channel. Built in 1878, it was the first lighthouse in Far North Queensland and more specifically the first to light the Inner Passage of the Great Barrier Reef. Its construction is typical to Queensland lighthouses of the time, timber frame clad with galvanized iron, and it is the fourth lighthouse of this type constructed in Queensland, though it is the first of them to use portholes.
Caloundra Lighthouses are a heritage-listed pair of lighthouses at 3 Canberra Terrace, near Arthur Street, Kings Beach, Caloundra, Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. The first, known as the Old Caloundra Light, was designed by Francis Drummond Greville Stanley and built in 1896; the second, New Caloundra Light, was built in 1968. They were added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 5 February 2010.