Cape Jaffa Lighthouse is a decommissioned
lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways.
Lighthouses mar ...
formerly located on
Margaret Brock Reef near
Cape Jaffa
Cape Jaffa is a headland in the Australian state of South Australia located at the south end of Lacepede Bay on the state's south east coast about south west of the town centre of Kingston SE. The cape is described as being "a low sandy point" ...
on the southeast coast of
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
and whose tower has been located in the town of
Kingston SE
Kingston SE (Kingston South East to distinguish it from Kingston-on-Murray) formerly Kingston is a town in the Australian state of South Australia located in the state's south-east coastline on the shores of Lacepede Bay. It is located about ...
since 1976. The former lighthouse tower is owned by the
National Trust of South Australia
The National Trust of Australia, officially the Australian Council of National Trusts (ACNT), is the Australian national peak body for community-based, non-government non-profit organisations committed to promoting and conserving Australia's Ind ...
, which operates it as a museum. The platform which supported the tower is still in place at Margaret Brock Reef as of 2022.
History
The lighthouse was designed by
George Wells, and the components made at
Chance Brothers
Chance Brothers and Company was a glassworks originally based in Spon Lane, Smethwick, West Midlands (formerly in Staffordshire), in England. It was a leading glass manufacturer and a pioneer of British glassmaking technology.
The Chance fami ...
in
Smethwick
Smethwick () is an industrial town in Sandwell, West Midlands, England. It lies west of Birmingham city centre. Historically it was in Staffordshire.
In 2019, the ward of Smethwick had an estimated population of 15,246, while the wider bu ...
in the
West Midlands
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
area of England. The parts were packed up and sent to Australia, and reconstructed at Cape Jaffa.
All in all it took three years to build and was opened on 6 January 1872. It was originally built out to sea from Cape Jaffa on the Margaret Brock Reef. One particular shipwreck, the
SS Admella
SS ''Admella'' was an Australian passenger steamship that was shipwrecked on a submerged reef off the coast of Carpenter Rocks, south west of Mount Gambier South Australia, in the early hours of Saturday 6 August 1859. Survivors clung to the wre ...
was cited at the time as the reason for commissioning the lighthouse.
Known as a Wells
screw pile
A screw and a bolt (see '' Differentiation between bolt and screw'' below) are similar types of fastener typically made of metal and characterized by a helical ridge, called a ''male thread'' (external thread). Screws and bolts are used to fa ...
, the original structure was held secure by being screwed into the ocean/reefs rocks. It was high and was designed to suit the local conditions. In its original structure, the lighthouse had eight rooms, enough to accommodate two lighthouse keepers and their families with enough stores to last several weeks. The lighthouse used a
Chance Brothers
Chance Brothers and Company was a glassworks originally based in Spon Lane, Smethwick, West Midlands (formerly in Staffordshire), in England. It was a leading glass manufacturer and a pioneer of British glassmaking technology.
The Chance fami ...
lantern which could be seen for a distance up to .
The federal government installed an automatic light to the structure in the early 1970s and handed operation to the National Trust of South Australia. After almost 101 years of use, the lighthouse was deactivated in 1973 when a new lighthouse at
Robe
A robe is a loose-fitting outer garment. Unlike garments described as capes or cloaks, robes usually have sleeves. The English word ''robe'' derives from Middle English ''robe'' ("garment"), borrowed from Old French ''robe'' ("booty, spoils" ...
began operation.
The lighthouse was listed on the now-defunct
Register of the National Estate
The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heritag ...
on 21 March 1978 and on the
South Australian Heritage Register
The South Australian Heritage Register, also known as the SA Heritage Register, is a statutory register of historic places in South Australia. It extends legal protection regarding demolition and development under the ''Heritage Places Act 1993'' ...
on 24 July 1980.
The structure on which the lighthouse tower originally stood still stands as of 2022. It currently hosts a breeding colony of
Australasian gannet
The Australasian gannet (''Morus serrator''), also known as the Australian gannet or tākapu, is a large seabird of the booby and gannet family, Sulidae. Adults are mostly white, with black flight feathers at the wingtips and lining the traili ...
s.
Lighthouse keepers
When the lighthouse was first in service there were three keepers on duty at the lighthouse and one at the short station. The keepers rotated so that they had one month ashore followed by three on the lighthouse. The shore keeper maintained the lighthouse cottages and monitored the radio.
Charles Henry West served as a lighthouse keeper at Cape Jaffa Lighthouse during the period 1893-1919, as well as
Troubridge Island Lighthouse
Troubridge Island Lighthouse is a decommissioned lighthouse in the Australian state of South Australia located on Troubridge Island in Gulf St Vincent about southwest of the state capital of Adelaide and about southeast by east of Edithburgh o ...
and
South Neptune Island Lighthouse
South Neptune Island Lighthouse is a lighthouse on South Neptune Islands within the Neptune Islands, near the entrance to Spencer Gulf in South Australia.
History
It was first lit on 1 November 1901. During the 1980s, a new tower was built to ...
. Prior to this, he was a customs officer at
Port Adelaide
Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...
. At the age of 44, he married Emma Isabella Germein, daughter of Samuel Germein, at Baptist Church Manse,
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
.
Visiting
The lighthouse tower was moved to its present location in
Kingston SE
Kingston SE (Kingston South East to distinguish it from Kingston-on-Murray) formerly Kingston is a town in the Australian state of South Australia located in the state's south-east coastline on the shores of Lacepede Bay. It is located about ...
in 1976, where it became a museum. It is open during South Australian school holidays.
The museum is set up to show how lighthouse keepers and their families lived in the tower structure. There is a log cabin quilt on one of the beds that is on the
National Quilt Register. An interactive display telling the tragic story of the 1852 shipwreck of the barque ''
Margaret Brock'' was opened in 2016.
See also
*
List of lighthouses in Australia
This is a list of lighthouses and lightvessels in Australia.
Australia has a coastline of , with over 350 lighthouses and navigational aids around the Australian coastline, and a single inland lighthouse, the Point Malcolm lighthouse.
The firs ...
*
List of National Trust properties in Australia
This list includes any stately home, historic house, museum or other property in the care of the autonomous state and territory branches of the National Trust of Australia. Many, but not all, of these are open to the public.
Australian Capital T ...
*
MS Oliva
The MS ''Oliva'' was a bulk carrier launched in 2009. On 16 March 2011, due to the risky navigation of trying to achieve the minimal allowed clearance of Nightingale Island of 10 nmi, and due to human error in navigation reducing the actual ...
Footnotes
References
External links
Cape Jaffa Lighthouse National Trust webpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cape Jaffa Lighthouse
Lighthouses in South Australia
National Trust of South Australia
Museums in South Australia
Lighthouse museums in Australia
Maritime museums in Australia
South Australian Heritage Register
South Australian places listed on the defunct Register of the National Estate