Tasman Island
Lighthouse
 |
Photo: Erika Shankley |
The Tasman Island lighthouse in
south eastern Tasmania is one of the highest operating lighthouses in Australia
and marks the final turning point for yachts in the Sydney-Hobart race.
The
island is separated from nearby Cape Pillar by the narrow Tasman Passage, which
is less than 500 metres wide.
It was one
of the more isolated lightstations and for many keepers, not a popular posting.
Operation
LOCATION: Latitude
43o14.5’S,
Longitude 148o00.2’E
OPERATOR: Australian
Maritime Safety Authority
EXHIBITED: 1906
BA LIST OF LIGHTS: K 3614
DAYMARK: White round metal
tower and lantern
CONSTRUCTION: Cast
iron plates
HEIGHT: 29
metres
ELEVATION: 276
metres
CHARACTER: Flashing 7.5 secs
- Flash: 0.1 sec; Eclipse: 7.4 sec
COLOUR OF LIGHT: White
POWER SOURCE: Solar
array
LIGHT
SOURCE: Lamps: 12V, 35W Quartz
Halogen lamp
INTENSITY: 63,000
cds
RANGE: Nominal: 18
nmiles; Geographical: 39 nmiles
AUTOMATED: 1976
DEMANNED: 1977
DEACTIVATED: no
CUSTODIAN: Parks
& Wildlife Service, Tasmania
History
Tasman Island lighthouse was the
last of the manned lights to be built in Tasmania.
A meeting of the Consolidated
Marine Board in August 1885 discussed the possibility of a lighthouse in the
vicinity of Cape Pillar. After
discounting the Cape itself and nearby Hippolyte Rocks, a site inspection was
made to Tasman Island. Despite a
recommendation in 1886 that construction should proceed, the proposal lapsed until
1903 when approval was, at last, given.
Plans were drawn up by Huckson
& Hutchison and a prefabricated cast-iron tower and 1st Order
lens manufactured by Chance Brothers of Birmingham was shipped out from
England.
The difficulties of working in
such a precipitous location were emphasised when two members of the Marine
Board fell in while attempting a landing.
Despite this, builders Henriksen & Knutsen commenced construction in
January 1904. The heavy cast-iron plates,
each weighing up to 13 cwt, took up to eight hours to reach the construction
site. They were then bolted together and
positioned on a concrete base 7.601 metres (24 feet 11¼ inches) in diameter.
Three keeper’s cottages were
built of solid brick, with sheds for wood and coal under the same roof for
protection from the wild weather. The total cost of construction was about
£22,000, a considerable sum in those days.
The first superintendent, George
Johnston with Assistants J. McGuire and E. Davis arrived on Tasman Island in
December 1905 and already had vegetable gardens growing by the time the light
was officially opened by the Master Warden, A.E. Risby on 2nd April
1906.
There were problems with the lamp
mantle which regularly fractured due to the degree of swaying at the top of the
tower in strong winds. On the night of
20th March 1907 the log reads:
‘The tower vibrated to such an
extent that it shook the mantles to pieces;
had to substitute the wick-burner
at 2 a.m.’ During another storm in
1919, verandahs and fences were blown away, water tanks blown off their stands
and out-buildings shifted off their foundations. The winds were so strong that the vibrations
in the lantern room destroyed five mantles and two pounds of mercury jumped out
of the race and had to be replaced.
Once thickly forested, Tasman Island was soon almost bare. Regularly,
each Saturday, a note in station logbooks records the Assistant’s duties as ‘cutting firewood’. As early as 1913, Station Superintendent, W.
Kirkwood, thought ‘the effects of
denuding the island for a fuel supply’ was perhaps the reason for severe
storm damage at the lightstation. Towards
the end of the year he wrote: ‘Blew whole gale last night – fierce squalls,
smashed up more fencing Superintendent’s quarters.’
Much of the island was grazed
with flocks of up to 500 sheep, cattle, pigs and goats. However, stock regularly disappeared
down the various sink-holes and clefts on the island, never to be seen
again.
Today, the native vegetation is
returning with pockets of small trees and shrubs appearing in more sheltered
areas.
Weather observations were
recorded in lightstation logbooks by the Head Keeper from 1906. Official
observations for the Bureau of Meteorology did not commence till 1922 when daily
rainfall readings were taken, although a Bureau of Meteorology rain gauge was
not provided until September 1923. An
automatic weather station (AWS) commenced operation on the island in 1991.
Access to such a remote lightstation
was difficult. Seas were frequently too
rough for supply ships to approach the island.
Landings were originally made on the north-west side of the island where
a track known as the Zigzag was
built. Then a landing platform was
constructed on the more sheltered north-east corner of the island with a crane
operated by a steam-driven donkey engine.
From there, twin trolleys were hauled, one up one down, negotiating the
1:1 slope with the aid of a Jelbart motor or alternatively a horse operating a
whim. Today, access to the island is
much easier by helicopter.
Kathleen Stanley describes in her
book Guiding Lights, the perilous
ride onto the island via a basket suspended from a flying fox:
‘The good order of the basket in which
passengers were carried ashore was the responsibility of the keepers who were
well aware of the need for exemplary work in this regard. On one occasion only has it been reported
that the door failed to close – perhaps because of some slight misalignment or
perhaps because the operator was over-anxious to begin the transfer. Mrs E. Jacobs, the last passenger to embark
on one hazardous trip, made the journey half in and half out of the
contraption, grimly held on by one of the keepers inside.
In her nineties, Mrs Jacobs could smile at
the memory but there were some tense moments at the landing-stage until she was
delivered safely onto solid earth. More
amazing than her perilous journey was the fact that she, with staunch
matter-of-factness, was not deterred from further rides in the basket.’
For the first 20 years pigeons
provided a link with the Tasmanian mainland.
However, the birds were so well fed that they were often reluctant to
leave the island! Then in the 1930s,
wireless communications were established between lightstations at Cape Bruny
and Maatsuyker Island. Later, the
introduction of a radio telephone further reduced the sense of isolation.
Because of the isolation, most women left the island to give
birth. However, in 1920 Nurse Cleary attended
the birth on the island of a daughter, Eileen, to Head Keeper Leslie B.
Johnston and his wife, Stella.
During the war years the job of
lightkeeping was considered a reserved occupation and keepers were not permitted
to enlist. Naval personnel were
stationed on the island, living in the Relief Keepers quarters. Their leisure hours were spent in the garden which
soon had a colourful array of flowers.
In their remote location the keepers on Tasman Island were vulnerable
to infections. After a visit to Hobart
by one keeper in October 1921, everyone on the station became ill. The Head Keeper was particularly
incapacitated and it was two weeks before an entry in the log book said: ‘All on
station been very ill with ‘flue’ [sic] but are now recovering.’
Sometimes this isolation could have dire consequences. In her book, Kathleen Stanley wrote:
‘Keepers and their families on
off-shore stations were always particularly susceptible to colds and influenza
since they were so isolated that they had little opportunity of acquiring
immunity.
On one occasion a family with
several children arrived with severe colds but no medication. Another keeper’s wife gave them her own
medication, only to see the newcomers recover and one of her own children die
of respiratory failure.’
A major accident occurred in 1927.
Rigger, William Groombridge was killed and Joseph Patterson was seriously
injured when a crane, being installed on the landing, collapsed without warning. The body of the dead man was thrown into the
sea and never recovered. With no direct
communication with Hobart it took until the next day to get medical help for
the injured man and another day to get him to Hobart for treatment.
However, unlike
many other Tasmanian lightstations, there are no European graves on the island.
For nearly 70 years the
lighthouse was lit by kerosene. The
Department of Transport conducted experiments with wind-power and in 1975 a
prototype was installed on Tasman Island, though still backed up by two diesel
generators.
The original lantern room, lens
and clockwork mechanism were dismantled and removed when the light was
automated in 1976 and the last keeper left the lightstation on 20 May
1977. Since then the Australian Maritime
Safety Authority and its contractor, Australian Maritime Systems Ltd, has
maintained and serviced the light which was converted to solar power in 1991.
From
1915, management of lighthouses was transferred to the Commonwealth. In 1980 the Tasman Island lightstation
was added to the Register of the National Estate as well as the Tasmanian
Heritage Register and in 2004 the lighthouse was added to the Commonwealth
Heritage register.
Tasman Island is now part of the
Tasman National Park.
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Tasman panorama: Quarters 2, Quarters 3 & lighthouse
Photo: Erika Shankley |
Preservation
In
the years since the automation of the lighthouse and removal of lightkeepers,
the unoccupied buildings deteriorated badly.
However, with dedicated work by the volunteer group Friends of Tasman
Island, this trend is now being reversed.
Today, the three light keepers’
quarters are still functional with Quarters 3 (nearest to the lighthouse) used
by volunteers and Park’s staff. Quarters
2 and Quarters 1 are also undergoing restoration. Other timber buildings, such as the relief
keeper’s cottage, originally the Clerk of Works office built in 1904, have
collapsed over time.
The
original lantern room is now undergoing restoration by the Friends of Tasman
Island.
The
original Chance Brothers 1st Order lens and clockwork mechanism is
on display at the Australian National Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour in
Sydney.
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Original 1st Order Lens from Tasman Island Lighthouse
Photo: Chris Creese |
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Lantern room Tasman Island Lighthouse 2011
Photo: Erika Shankley |
Friends of Tasman Island
Formed in 2005, the Friends of Tasman Island
(FoTI), a Wildcare Inc subsidiary, work in partnership with the Parks &
Wildlife Service, conducting work programmes on the island about three times
each year.
They
have a membership of committed volunteers and supporters who focus on the
restoration of both the cultural heritage and natural environment on the
island.
Funding for these projects comes,
primarily, from the sale of the Lighthouses of Tasmania series of calendars
which are published each year by FoTI.
Other sources of income are from government, semi-government &
industry grants.
Access:
- Access by sea is very difficult. The haulage is no longer operational and
tracks up the 250 metre cliffs are overgrown.
- A permit to land by helicopter
must be obtained from the Tasmanian Parks & Wildlife Service.
ACCOMMODATION: No commercial accommodation available
TOURS:
T
he Rotary Club of Tasman
Peninsula conduct fund-raising helicopter flights to Tasman Island once a year. Coinciding with the anniversary of the
opening of the lighthouse, members of the public can visit the island and, in
co-operation with AMSA, inspect the lighthouse and keepers’ quarters. For further information contact johnhay@bigpond.net.au
Other Tasman Island Sites:
