Location | Townsville, Queensland, Australia |
---|---|
Coordinates | 19°16′S146°49′E / 19.26°S 146.82°E |
Tower | |
Constructed | 1915 |
Construction | metal skeletal tower |
Height | 30 m (98 ft) |
Shape | square tower with balcony and lantern |
Markings | red |
Power source | acetylene |
Operator | Commonwealth Lighthouse Service |
Light | |
Deactivated | 1990 |
Focal height | 56 m (184 ft) |
Intensity | 1,500 candela |
Range | 13 nmi (24 km; 15 mi) |
Characteristic | Fl W 3s |
Current light | |
Constructed | 1990 |
Construction | stainless steel (tower), concrete (piling), fiberglass (hut) |
Height | 6 m (20 ft) |
Power source | solar power |
Operator | Australian Maritime Safety Authority |
First lit | 26 March 1990 |
Focal height | 14 m (46 ft) |
Intensity | 2,100 candela (white), 420 candela (red), 420 candela (green) |
Range | 10 nmi (19 km; 12 mi) (white), 7 nmi (13 km; 8.1 mi) (red), 7 nmi (13 km; 8.1 mi) (green) |
Characteristic | Fl WRG 5s |
Wharton Reef Light is an inactive lighthouse which used to be located on Wharton Reef in Princess Charlotte Bay off the Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia. When it was deactivated in 1990 it was donated to the Townsville Maritime Museum and it is now on display near the museum. It is the only survivor [1] of a series of twenty automatic lighthouses installed in Queensland during the "Golden Age of Australian Lighthouses" from 1913 to the early 1920s. [2]
With the Federation of Australia in 1901, responsibility over coastal lighthouses was to be transferred to the commonwealth. [2] In 1911, the Lighthouses Act was passed, giving the Commonwealth the power to take responsibility over navigational aids as required. [3] The actual transfer of responsibility took place with the formation of the Commonwealth Lighthouse Service (CLS) on 1 July 1915, during a period that was termed "the Golden Age of Australian lighthouses", from 1913 to the early 1920s. [4] The CLS took over a group of 104 manned and 18 unmanned lighthouses. [3] Lighting the northern Inside Passage, the shipping route inside the Great Barrier Reef, was one of the urgent tasks taken by the CLS. At the time, only four lights were present between the Torres Strait and Cooktown, namely Grassy Hill Light, Pipon Island Light, Goods Island Light and Booby Island Light. The CLS tackled this task with the installation of twenty new fully automatic unattended lights, a decision motivated by the shortage of manpower, materials and funding caused by World War I. [2]
The structures were almost identical, differing mainly in height. The structures were mostly installed on coral reefs or sandbars, with little natural support. The foundation was usually a flat concrete base with concrete piers supporting the structure. The structure was a simple four-legged steel frame, manufactured in Brisbane, topped with simple lantern with a small balcony. The apparatus was a fully automatic Dalén light consisting of a carbide lamp feeding on compressed acetylene gas, controlled by a sun valve. [2]
Wharton Reef Light, established 1915, was one of the first such lights to be constructed. The lighthouse was located on Wharton Reef (then called Dhu Reef) in Princess Charlotte Bay, west of Pipon Island, about 350 kilometres (220 mi) north of Cairns, replacing an earlier beacon on the reef. [2] It was originally about 50 feet (15 m) high. [1] The construction of Wharton Reef Light was especially difficult due to bad weather. Instability of the surface required deep excavation of the foundations. [2]
Wharton Reef Light was described in 1959 as showing a white flash every three seconds. The light had an intensity of 1,500 cd and was visible for 13 nautical miles (24 km; 15 mi). The light was displayed at an elevation of 56 feet (17 m). [5]
The lighthouse operated until 1990, when the structure was replaced by a fibreglass hut [1] and the light was replaced by an automatic ML-300 beacon. [6] By then it was the last of its kind to remain operative. [2] The tower was donated by the federal Department of Transport to the Townsville Maritime Museum. It was dismantled and shipped to Townsville. In 1996 it was erected in the middle of a traffic turnabout near the museum, where it stands on display as of 2011. [2] The Fresnel lens from the light is on display inside the museum, along with other lenses used in the area. It is now the only survivor of the series of twenty lighthouses. [1]
The current structure, installed on 26 March 1990, is a white fibre glass hut, mounted on a small stainless steel structure, on concrete piles. It is 6 metres (20 ft) tall, from seabed to the deck, and the light is displayed at 14 metres (46 ft), with a daymark at 12 metres (39 ft). [6] The current light characteristic is a flash every five seconds, white, red or green, depending on direction (Fl.W.R.G. 5s). Green is displayed at 84°-97°, visible for 7 nautical miles (13 km; 8.1 mi), white is displayed at 97°-126° and 229°-84°, visible for 10 nautical miles (19 km; 12 mi), and red is displayed at 126°-229°, visible for 7 nautical miles (13 km; 8.1 mi). [7] The light source is a solar powered ML-300 beacon with a 12 Volt 35 Watt Halogen lamp, showing an intensity of 2,100 cd for the white light and 420 cd for the red and green ones. It is operated by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. [6]
The original tower is owned by the Townsville Maritime Museum. Both the site and lighthouse are managed by the Townsville City Council. Although the site is easily accessible, the tower itself is closed to the public. [1]
Archer Point Light is an active lighthouse on Archer Point, a conical, 60-metre-high (200 ft) grassy headland about 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) southeast of Cooktown, Queensland, Australia. Originally an 1883 timber frame lighthouse covered with galvanised iron, it was replaced in 1975 with a modern square concrete equipment room topped with a lantern.
Bay Rock Light is an inactive lighthouse which used to be located on Bay Rock, a rocky islet northwest of Magnetic Island, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of Townsville, Queensland, Australia. First lit in 1886, it was automated in 1920 and deactivated in the 1980s. It was relocated in 1992 to the Townsville Maritime Museum, where it is now displayed.
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. It was the last of the major lights to be constructed along the Queensland coast.
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.
Point Cartwright Light is an active lighthouse located on Point Cartwright, a point near the mouth of the Mooloolah River, in Mooloolaba, Queensland, Australia. It marks the entrance to the North West Channel, a deep water channel into Moreton Bay and the Port of Brisbane, and provides guidance into the Mooloolaba Harbour.
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.
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.
Creal Reef Light is an active lighthouse located at Creal Reef, a planar reef about 150 kilometres (93 mi) east of Mackay, Queensland, Australia. It guides ships outgoing from Mackay into Hydrographers Passage, a deep water channel east of Mackay. The structure is a stainless steel tower, which also serves as a daymark and carries a racon.
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.
Eborac Island Light is an active lighthouse on Eborac Island, a small rocky island in the Adolphus Channel just off Cape York, the northern tip of Cape York Peninsula, Far North Queensland, Australia. It guides ships into the coastal channel inside the Great Barrier Reef. A concrete structure was built in 1921 and converted to solar power in 1990. It was replaced with a fiberglass structure in 2012.
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.
Wyborn Reef Light is an active lighthouse located at Wyborn Reef, formerly known as Y Reef, about 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) southeast of Albany Island, east of the tip of Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia. It marks the entrance to the Albany Passage. The lighthouse was constructed in 1938 and upgraded in 1991 and 1995. The structure is a stainless steel tower with a fiberglass hut within the framework, carrying a lantern.
Commonwealth Lightship 4 (CLS4) Carpentaria is a lightship that was in service from 1917 to 1985 with the Commonwealth Lighthouse Service, built at the Cockatoo Island Dockyard and commissioned in 1917. The vessel is named after the Gulf of Carpentaria, where it spent most of its service life together with its sister ship CLS2.