Photo - Pauline O'Brien
Point Cloates lighthouse and the accompanying cottages were erected on Cloates Hill, located within the Ningaloo Station pastoral lease in 1910.The construction work was carried out 'departmentally' at a total cost of £13,265.14 Locally available sandstone was used to build the tower and quarters, the stone being described as of excellent quality a pleasant warm brown in colour, but costly to work on account of its hardness. The lighthouse was 47 feet (14m) high to the gallery floor. The internal ironwork, such as floors and stairs, were designed by the Harbour and Lights Department and constructed under contract in Perth. The optic was supplied by Chance Bros Ltd of Birmingham UK, and comprised a three-sided 2nd order lens rotating in mercury bath, flashing three times every 15 seconds
Point Cloates Lighthouse had been constructed on a sand dune which is unstable by nature and there were soon concerns about the stability and safety of the structures that were standing on it. The new light was to replace the Point Cloates Lighthouse. In 1936, an unattended acetylene gas fuelled light on a 74-foot (22.5m) steel tower was established on Frazer Island, an equally unstable sand cay in Norwegian Bay. Head light keeper J. Turner, who had replaced Aubrey Wood in 1936, and assistant light keeper C. S. Johnson were the light keepers employed at Point Cloates at the time. Their last task was to set up the light at Frazer Island. They left Point Cloates on 14 October 1936. The lantern and operating equipment from the lighthouse have been removed.
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Lighthouses of Australia
Inc.