CAPE BRUNY LIGHTHOUSE

The Cape Bruny Lighthouse is an imposing thirteen metres high. The Lighthouse was established in 1838, after a series of shipwrecks in the D'Entrecasteaux Channel. The Cape Bruny Lighthouse was built using locally quarried stone at a cost of 2,500 pounds for materials. The labour cost nothing as the Lighthouse was built by the hands of convict labour.

The legacy of all the backbreaking work of the convicts who brought the lighthouse to fruition lives on to this day, although the light was decommissioned in 1996, when it was replaced by a solar powered tower.

The Cape Bruny Lighthouse is enjoyed by sightseers & revered by historians as the oldest continuously manned  Lighthouse in Australia. 

Australia's longest serving head lighthouse keeper, Captain William Hawkins, served at the Cape Bruny Lighthouse for 37 years & 232 days from 1877 to 1914. 

Getting supplies to the lighthouse was a difficult job, prior to the Lighthouse Rd being carved through the bush.

Until 1915, steam ships & sailing vessels served the light. Stores of food, livestock, wicks, sperm whale oil & glass chimneys were all needed to keep the light house keepers & their families fed & the light burning.

On occasion, assistance has been given to ships which have suffered mishaps of varying degrees of severity. Often crews were given stores from the keepers' private supplies.

The original parabolic reflectors used approximately half a litre of sperm whale oil for every hour that the light burned.

The lighthouse reserve consisted of 184 acres of land that was used by the early keepers for grazing horses and other livestock. Vegetables, were grown by the early convict lighthouse keepers. There are still the remains of the convict garden on the sheltered side by the beach.

Wireless telephone apparatus was installed in 1930 and a pedal wireless set on 28 March 1938.

http://brunyisland.net.au/Cape_Bruny/Lightstation/lightstation_accommodation.htm

Bruny Island History

Bruny Island was first sighted by Abel Tasman in 1642. Bruny Island takes its name from Rear Admiral Bruni d'Entrecasteaux who dropped anchor off the coast of Bruny Island in 1792-93. Bruny Island is of national significance in the European exploration of the southern seas. Captains Furneaux, Flinders, Cook and Bligh all anchored in Bruny Island's Adventure Bay which takes its name from Furneaux's ship. 

The Bligh Museum of Pacific Exploration at Adventure Bay http://www.brunyisland.net.au/Adventure_Bay/blighmuseum.html and the Alonnah History Rooms are open to the public daily http://www.brunyisland.net.au/Alonnah/historyroom.html .

Take a walk out to Variety Bay on open days or follow the walking track to Grassy Point to see the site of one of Bruny Island's ex whaling stations and find out about the whaling history from the information boards along the way http://www.brunyisland.net.au/Walks/brunywalks.html.

For more information about Bruny Island http://brunyisland.net.au/

Historic Cape Bruny Lighthouse. Check out this link for more information about the Cape Bruny Light station http://www.brunyisland.net.au/Cape_Bruny/Lightstation/lighthouse.html

View from the Cape Bruny Lighthouse.

Cape Bruny Lighthouse lamp

The Cape Bruny Lighthouse

The Cape Bruny Lighthouse was the third Lighthouse to be erected in Tasmania in 1838.

The Lighthouse was built by convict labour using locally quarried rock.
The original light source for the light tower consisted of fifteen lamps burning nearly a pint of oil per hour. Originally run on sperm whale oil the lamp eventually changed to colza oil a better quality oil. The quality of the oil was paramount as the better the oil the less consumables such as wicks & glass chimneys were used. The wicks & chimneys had to be imported from London, a very long journey indeed especially as all lighthouse provisions were brought across the ocean by ship to nearby jetty beach a small inlet several kilometres away, then brought on horse & Dre from there.

In 1903 the original Wilkins lantern was replaced by a Chance Brothers lantern. In 1912 & 1913 several upgrades were made to improve the lanterns efficiency. The cut glass lantern once housed the oil lamps which have since been replaced by electric light. The lantern is hand cut from the same high quality glass as crystal chandeliers.

The original staircase was replaced in 1903 by this still sturdy cast iron spiral staircase.
The Cape Bruny Lighthouse once gave shelter & work to Australia's longest serving lighthouse keeper, Captain William Hawkins who served as Superintendent at Cape Bruny for 37 years & 232 days between 1877
& 1914. It must have been a solitary life as the first wireless telephone was installed in 1930.

The Cape Bruny Lighthouse is accessible by road & takes an hour to get to from the Barnes Bay ferry terminal & about half that time from Adventure Bay. The roads are bumpy in places but the Cape Bruny Lighthouse is worth a visit & I believe guided tours are available by appointment. http://www.brunyisland.net/