The press reacted to the shipwrecks in the Channel by attacking Arthur for his inaction. They were certainly justified as the possibility of a light had first been raised in 1825 and Moriarty had recommended one in 1832 when he had surveyed the D’Entrecasteaux Channel.
In 1836 a Pilot Committee agreed on the site for the lighthouse and the need for an additional pilot at Recherche Bay. Colonial Architect John Lee Archer designed a tower and construction began in April 1836 led by Charles Watson with a team of 12 convicts. They used local stone to construct the tower and quarters for the keepers. Even so it cost over £2500. It was Tasmania’s third lighthouse after the Iron Pot and Low Head towers and went on to attain the record for Australia’s most continuously manned light.
It was accompanied by a reserve of 184 acres which were used for fuel, to graze animals and to grow vegetables. Three miles from the tower in a sheltered corner of Great Taylor’s Bay was Jetty Beach where supplies were landed for the light. The remains of a convict garden can be found on the sheltered side of the beach. This was connected by a track to the light up which the bullocks pulled supplies and visitors on their drays.
The first keeper was William Baudinet who was accompanied by three convicts and a bullock called Merriweather and who manned the light for its first 3 years. He had been the Government Coxswain who had recovered many of the bodies from the wreck of the George III. The first light was a Wilkins lantern which had 15 lamps. It rotated on a clockwork mechanism which had to be wound every 8 hours.
In the 1850 Marine Enquiry Keeper Henry Matheson stated the station had not been visited by an Officer of the Marine Department for 5 years and indeed no Government Officer at all for 3. He stated that there were many things that needed repair which he had complained of many times. He also complained that his men ran away to get their pay from the Port Office in Hobart without permission. He added that work at the station was organised around 2 watches: from dark until midnight and thence to daylight. The 15 lamps consumed a pint of previously strained sperm oil each hour and the men trimmed them every 2 hours.
William Hawkins was the longest serving keeper for 38 years. He saw many changes to the lighthouse such as whale oil being replaced by colza oil in 1892; the installation of a telephone line to the Lunawanna Post Office in 1902; a new Chance Brothers light being installed which altered the appearance of the top of the tower and a spiral metal staircase of 70 steps replacing the old wooden stairs in 1903. The original keepers’ houses were also replaced during this time.
The lighthouse was taken over by the Commonwealth and in 1913 the Commonwealth Trades and Customs Department installed a new dioptric white light flashing three seconds in every 22; they increased the candelas from 22,000 to 120,000 and changed the illuminant from coal oil wick to kerosene and incandescent mantle.
A wireless telephone arrived in 1930 with the first motorised delivery of mail in 1931. 1938 saw delivery of a pedal wireless. A proper road to the light was built in 1962.
In 1996 the light was replaced by an automatic solar light on an adjacent headland.
[Source: Facebook post 24 October 2021 Suzanne Smythe Bruny Island History Room]
In 1836 a Pilot Committee agreed on the site for the lighthouse and the need for an additional pilot at Recherche Bay. Colonial Architect John Lee Archer designed a tower and construction began in April 1836 led by Charles Watson with a team of 12 convicts. They used local stone to construct the tower and quarters for the keepers. Even so it cost over £2500. It was Tasmania’s third lighthouse after the Iron Pot and Low Head towers and went on to attain the record for Australia’s most continuously manned light.
It was accompanied by a reserve of 184 acres which were used for fuel, to graze animals and to grow vegetables. Three miles from the tower in a sheltered corner of Great Taylor’s Bay was Jetty Beach where supplies were landed for the light. The remains of a convict garden can be found on the sheltered side of the beach. This was connected by a track to the light up which the bullocks pulled supplies and visitors on their drays.
The first keeper was William Baudinet who was accompanied by three convicts and a bullock called Merriweather and who manned the light for its first 3 years. He had been the Government Coxswain who had recovered many of the bodies from the wreck of the George III. The first light was a Wilkins lantern which had 15 lamps. It rotated on a clockwork mechanism which had to be wound every 8 hours.
In the 1850 Marine Enquiry Keeper Henry Matheson stated the station had not been visited by an Officer of the Marine Department for 5 years and indeed no Government Officer at all for 3. He stated that there were many things that needed repair which he had complained of many times. He also complained that his men ran away to get their pay from the Port Office in Hobart without permission. He added that work at the station was organised around 2 watches: from dark until midnight and thence to daylight. The 15 lamps consumed a pint of previously strained sperm oil each hour and the men trimmed them every 2 hours.
William Hawkins was the longest serving keeper for 38 years. He saw many changes to the lighthouse such as whale oil being replaced by colza oil in 1892; the installation of a telephone line to the Lunawanna Post Office in 1902; a new Chance Brothers light being installed which altered the appearance of the top of the tower and a spiral metal staircase of 70 steps replacing the old wooden stairs in 1903. The original keepers’ houses were also replaced during this time.
The lighthouse was taken over by the Commonwealth and in 1913 the Commonwealth Trades and Customs Department installed a new dioptric white light flashing three seconds in every 22; they increased the candelas from 22,000 to 120,000 and changed the illuminant from coal oil wick to kerosene and incandescent mantle.
A wireless telephone arrived in 1930 with the first motorised delivery of mail in 1931. 1938 saw delivery of a pedal wireless. A proper road to the light was built in 1962.
In 1996 the light was replaced by an automatic solar light on an adjacent headland.
[Source: Facebook post 24 October 2021 Suzanne Smythe Bruny Island History Room]