Point Lonsdale Lighthouse

1901

The first navigation aid at Point Lonsdale was a signal station erected in 1852. In 1856 a red pillar beacon was built. In 1863 the original Queenscliff Low Light, a prefabricated wooden structure, was re-erected at Point Lonsdale and painted with distinctive black and red bands. It used a temporary light until a permanent light was lit in 1867. It was replaced by the current concrete tower in 1902, with the wooden tower dismantled and cut up for firewood in 1912.[2][3]

Australia

Designed by the Victorian Public Works Department and erected by the contractors Coates Brothers.

3rd order

Fixed

Fl (2) W 15s. (horizontal beam)

White tower and black lantern and dome. Concrete tower on octagonal prism signal station and observation room

Maybe the foghorn!

A vigil is kept by the still manned Point Lonsdale Lighthouse over the narrow entrance to Port Phillip Bay. The Rip, as it is known, is one of the most notorious entrances to any bay in the world. This lighthouse is one of the few left that is staffed 24 hours a day. The base has an signal and observation room for the control of shipping through the Heads.

Point Lonsdale received a signal station in 1852 to help ships negotiate its dangerous waters. Four years later, a red pillar beacon was built to warn of Lonsdale Rock.

A wooden lighthouse from Shortland Bluff was then dismantled and re-erected at Point Lonsdale in 1863. The present lighthouse was built in 1902, but the earlier wooden lighthouse was not cut up for firewood until 1912.

In 1915 the light passed from the Victorian State Government to Commonwealth control. It was handed back in 1934 and classified as a harbour entrance light rather than a “Coastal Highway Light”.

The base was altered in 1950 to provide an observation and shipping control room. This is possibly the last manned lighthouse in Australia. The lighthouse celebrated its centenary in 2002. The Point Lonsdale Lighthouse precinct contains not only the lighthouse itself, but other buildings associated with lighthouse operations and navigation, as well as nearby military defence structures built during the First and Second World Wars. The whole precinct is considered to be of architectural, historical and archaeological significance to the State of Victoria, and has been listed by Heritage Victoria with the Victorian Heritage Database number H1517.

It is of historical significance because of its association with the maritime and defence history of the state. The lighthouse structures in the precinct show the importance of navigational aids at a time when shipping was vitally important in maintaining trade between Victorian ports and the rest of the world. The lighthouse was the first guiding light to the entrance of Port Phillip visible from the sea. The defence structures reflect the importance of the defence of Port Phillip and its major cities of Melbourne and Geelong during the two World Wars.

The lighthouse precinct buildings, including a foghorn shed built in 1884 and an explosives shed (later used as a rocket shed) built in 1891, are of architectural significance. The lighthouse is a typical and aesthetically pleasing example of an early 20th-century lighthouse design. The foghorn shed is the only one known from a Victorian lighthouse, and the one Gardner Engine that remains on site sends compressed air to two vertical holding tanks which power the foghorn, all rare in its original setting. The precinct is of archaeological significance for its potential to reveal artefactual remains pertaining to the use of the site as a lightstation and signal station.

Victorian Ports Authority

Queenscliffe Maritime Museum

The lighthouse's exterior was restored in 1997 and, in 2002, Heritage Victoria and the Victorian Channels Authority cooperated to restore the interior. Celebrations of the structure's centenary were held on 23 March 2002. It contains a restored foghorn which is operated in foggy weather, giving a double blast every 30 seconds. There is public access to the area around the tower. Organised tours of the tower are conducted on Sundays by the Queenscliffe Maritime Museum. The marine waters around the lighthouse are protected within the Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park.

Closed

Closed

38°17′31″S 144°36′50″E

1. https://maritimequeenscliffe.org.au/
2. https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/1693
3. https://www.ibiblio.org/lighthouse/vic.htm

ARLHS AUS-222; Admiralty K2194; NGA 7460.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Lonsdale_Lighthouse
2. https://lighthouses.org.au/vic/point-lonsdale-lighthouse/
3. Chance Lighthouses (1856-1917) (61 years): Port Lonsdale (Active); Active; 1901; 3rd order fixed + occulting