Australian_Geographic_-_October_2015_

September–October 2015 53

Light-footed. East Gippsland’s

renowned Point Hicks Lighthouse,

VIC (above), was first lit in 1890.

To reach the lantern room its

keepers had to plod up 162

steps. Made of cast iron, the

tower’s unusual spiral staircase

is cantilevered from the walls.

By contrast, the modest 13m-tall

Shark Island Lighthouse (left) off

Point Piper in Sydney Harbour,

boasts a pylon landing and

short external ladders.

Iron maiden. Perched on the southern-

most coral cay of the Great Barrier Reef,

the Lady Elliot Island Lighthouse – north-

east of Bundaberg – was completed in

1873. Its economical design pioneered
      the use of wrought-iron cladding over a
      sturdy pre-fabricated timber frame. By the
      mid-1990s the light was obscured by the
      regrowth of the island’s casuarina trees,
      and was replaced by an automated light
      atop a taller scaffolding tower.

Flash talk. A crucial

responsibility for keepers

was communicating with

passing ships. Here

Mr Salchany uses an

Aldis Lamp to send a

morse code signal from

South Neptune Island

Lighthouse, SA, in 1963.

OPPOSITE: AG; THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: WIKIMEDIA; CLAVER CARROLL / GETTY IMAGES; AG; AG; NAA