Bulletin - Vol 9 No. 1 January/February 2006

• Vale Mike Dalrymple
• Maritime Heritage Grant Program
• Troubridge Island (Shoal) Lighthouse turns 150
• Cape Byron Lighthouse Road to remain open to visitors
• Indonesia to build 46 lighthouses on outermost islands in 2006

Vale Mike Dalrymple

Mike Dalrymple, the founder and organiser of the International Lighthouse & Lightship Weekend (ILLW) passed away on 21 December 2005 after a long illness. ILLW is continuing in his memory. A tribute has been published on the official ILLW website.

Vale Mike GM4SUC

N.B. International Lighthouse & Lightship Weekend will be held on 19-20 August this year. LoA Inc will be setting up a website page specific to ILLW as more details become available, and is keen to promote the weekend's activities. If you are an Australian amateur radio group, lighthouse caretaker/manager or other organisation participating in ILLW in some fashion - contact us with your details so they can be added to our webpage. Note that we are not involved in organising any aspect of ILLW, so if you intend to register as a participating radio group, please visit the official ILLW website.

Maritime Heritage Grant Program

Clare Power, Project Assistant at the Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM), who co-ordinates a federally funded maritime heritage grant program, is seeking suggestions of lighthouses that could make use of such a grant. 
Update - 2 March 2006 - see below

The Maritime Museums of Australia Project Support Scheme (MMAPSS) has been running from 1995 and has contributed towards approximately 125 projects of maritime heritage significance around Australia. The grants are jointly funded by the Federal Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts and the ANMM. The types of projects vary greatly, from conservation work through to collating memoirs. A list of projects can be found at the MMAPSS website.

Suggestions for suitable recipients of a heritage grant made by members of the Lighthouses of Australia Inc Committee include:

• The Crookhaven Heads Lighthouse is suffering badly at the hands of vandals and neglect Photograph: Kristie Eggleston

  Crookhaven Heads would top the list in NSW, if not Australia, as being one of the most in need and is at risk of being lost altogether
• Cape Otway - seal the badly leaking lantern room and to restore the lens to its original form
• Tasman Island - re-roof the oil room, remove the asbestos roofs and make the cottages habitable
• Norah Head - rotating system needs correcting
• Troubridge Island - repairs to rusting, repainting
• Deal Island - repainting, and further restoration to the Superintendents cottage
• Althorpe Island - very badly needs repairs to jetty and flying fox
• Point Lowly - was deteriorating when last seen in December 2004
• South Neptune Island - removal of asbestos

Lighthouse support groups like Friends of Cape Otway Station, Friends of Tasman Island, Friends of Kent Group National Park, Friends of Troubridge Island etc. are urged to read through the application information available at the MMAPSS website, and make an application.

LoA Inc is still interested in compiling a list of suggestions from the wider lighthouse community of which lighthouses or related maritime projects could benefit from such a grant. Send your suggestions via LoA Inc.

Corrosion in the cast iron plates of the Troubridge Shoal lighthouse is a concern Photograph: Colin Lemke

Troubridge Island (Shoal) Lighthouse turns 150 Garry Searle, South Australian representative for LoA Inc noted that the poor old Troubridge Shoal Lighthouse turned 150 on 1 February 2006, without any known official celebration or recognition for this momentous event.  Lighthouses of Australia Inc has recently expressed concern for the Troubridge Shoal Lighthouse, with corrosion of the tower and the ever encroaching sea threatening her future. We hope she lasts for many more years to come.

Cape Byron Lighthouse Road to remain open The Northern Star local newspaper from northern New South Wales published a story on 7 February 2006 regarding tip-offs that vehicle access to the Cape Byron Lighthouse would be closed, as a means of managing problems with car parking and traffic congestion. Cape Byron Reserve Trust manager Sue Walker denied the rumours, and said that the Trust plan of management did identify problems with vehicle access to the iconic landmark, but they hoped to solve the issues without closing Lighthouse Road. For the full story, visit the Northern Star website or download the article as a PDF.

Cape Byron Lighthouse Photograph: Winsome Bonham

Indonesia to build 46 lighthouses on outermost islands in 2006

Published in Antara News, 27 January 2006

The Indonesian Communications Ministry will build 46 lighthouses on Indonesia's outermost islands in 2006 to spur economic activities in remote islands and their surroundings and to symbolize the sovereignty of the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia.

The Communications Minister said that in the construction of the new lighthouses, the government will give priority to the outermost islands, in areas near the border with other countries, which are vulnerable to conflicts with other countries. The twelve of the 46 new lighthouses to be built this year will be located near the border with Malaysia, 15 near the border with Australia, five near the border with the Philippines and two near the border with Timor Leste.

For the full story, visit the Antara News website or download the article as a PDF.