__NOTOC__ Emery Point Light is an active

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 ...

located at

Larrakeyah Barracks Larrakeyah Barracks, incorporating , is the main base for the Australian Defence Force in the Northern Territory of Australia, and occupies the headland west of the suburb of Larrakeyah in the capital, Darwin. It was established in 1932–33, ...

, the main base for the

Australian Defence Force The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of the Commonwealth of Australia and its national interests. It consists of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Forc ...

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

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, at the entrance to

Port Darwin Port Darwin is the port in Darwin, Northern Territory, in northern Australia. The port has operated in a number of locations, including Stokes Hill Wharf, Cullen Bay and East Arm Wharf. In 2015, a 99-year lease was granted to the Chinese-owned ...

. It was the second lighthouse to be built in Port Darwin. It was the only

navigational aid Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...

to remain functional in the path of Cyclone Tracy.According to . Note that Point Charles Light also survived, but was not functional at the time, see .

History

The first light at Emery Point was established in 1900, and dismantled in May 1915, in preparation for the installation of the current lighthouse, which was installed later that year. Its construction was part of the "Golden Age of Australian Lighthouses", taking place between 1913 and 1920. The original light source was a carbide lamp ( acetylene gas lamp). It was converted to electric power on 23 March 1966, with an acetylene gas standby. The current light source is a 1,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

tungsten-halogen lamp A halogen lamp (also called tungsten halogen, quartz-halogen, and quartz iodine lamp) is an incandescent lamp consisting of a tungsten filament sealed in a compact transparent envelope that is filled with a mixture of an inert gas and a small ...

. In

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...

of 1974, Cyclone Tracy hit the city of Darwin. Emery Point Light was the only navigational aid to remain functional in the path of the storm. Over the years, the

light characteristic A light characteristic is all of the properties that make a particular navigational light identifiable. Graphical and textual descriptions of navigational light sequences and colours are displayed on nautical charts and in Light Lists with the cha ...

shown was changed. The original characteristic was an occulting light, with an eclipse of 1.5 seconds every six seconds (Oc. 6s). It used to have a range of . The current light characteristic shown is three flashes, one every two seconds, repeating every 15 seconds (Fl.(3)W.R. 15s). The color is red on -181° and white on 335°-139°. The red light is visible for while the white light is visible for .''List of Lights''

Emery Point

Emery Point was originally called ''Goondal''. It was named after a Lieutenant Emery, who discovered fresh water at the base of the cliff.

Structure

The current tower, dating from 1915, is a square metal skeletal tower, painted white, topped with a lantern. Its height is from the base to the lantern, and the focal height (height of the light above sea level) is .

Visiting and operation

The site and the tower are inside a military base and are closed to the public, though a sea view is possible. The light is operated by the Darwin Port Corporation.

Notes

References

* * * reprinted in * * * * *

External links

* {{Authority control Lighthouses completed in 1900 Lighthouses completed in 1915 Lighthouses in the Northern Territory