Lighthouses of New South Wales

The Crookhaven Heads Lighthouse

Aside from the keepers cottages at South Solitary Island, this is probably the most endangered lighthouse in New South Wales and should be of great concern to lighthouse enthusiasts and the community at large.

• Operation

• History
• Keepers
• Preservation Issues
• Access
• Features
• News
• Letters
• Other Crookhaven Heads Sites

The Crookhaven Heads Lighthouse
Photograph: Annette Flotwell

The original lighthouse was constructed of timber in 1882 and located as part of the Shoalhaven Signal Station on the beach 200 metres to the west of the current lighthouse. The apparatus had been a brass lantern.

A red light made from a ship's masthead light supported on two poles had been exhibited by boatmen here at the river entrance since 1872.

The new brick lighthouse to the south of the mouth of the Shoalhaven River was commissioned in 1904 and the old wooden lighthouse was immediately demolished.

The new structure incorporated the lantern from the former lighthouse on Cape St. George which in turn had been demolished following the coming into service of the Point Perpendicular light in 1899.

It was at this time that the name of the station was changed to Crookhaven Heads.

Little is known of its later history and it is not clear whether the light is still operational.

Keepers

We need your help in compiling a list of keepers for this lighthouse. If you have any information then send it to Web Keeper.

Please include this lighthouse's name, the keepers full name and what years they were keepers. Also include the same information for any other lights they were on.

Preservation Issues

Apart from the keepers cottages at South Solitary Island this is probably the most endangered lighthouse in New South Wales and should be a great concern to lighthouse enthusiasts and the community at large.

The lighthouse has suffered greatly from damage over the years due to its isolation on a headland that juts out from the river mouth.

This was further aggravated by the fact the reserve was like an overgrown garden and it was not at all visible from the nearby village.

Several years ago the building was renovated but without an ongoing plan or presence it has not taken long for it to fall into disrepair again.

The problem seems to be the isolation of the Crookhaven Lighthouse.

One step undertaken was the strip away the thicket that had grown around the old lighthouse with the belief that if the light was more visible it would be less of an incentive for vandals to move in a deface and damage the building.

But until a permanent solution is found that protects the site that authorities are reluctant to provide further funds to restore the lighthouse.

It is really up to the local community and those who have expressed concerns to raise the esteem of this Crookhaven icon by taking action to form a locally based group to preserved, promote and protect this most unique of New South Lighthouses.

The apparatus is still operational despite the advanced state of deterioration of the lantern room
Photograph: Ian Clifford

The shocking rate of deterioration
Photograph: Ian Clifford

Special Thanks to:

• Annette Flotwell for Photograph
• Brian Lord for Photograph
• Ian Clifford for Photographs
• Winsome Bonham for Photograph

Sources:

• From Dusk Till Dawn by Gordon Reid
• White Towers - The Illawarra Lighthouses

Site constructed by: 
Malcolm S Macdonald t/as Lighthouse Computer Training & Development (1997-2001)
Copyright © All rights reserved.
1997-2001 Malcolm S Macdonald and individual contributors as acknowledged.
2002-2007 Lighthouses of Australia Inc (LoA Inc) and individual contributors as acknowledged. & Lighthouses of Australia Inc (2002-2007)