Lighthouses of Victoria

The Wilson's Promontory Lighthouse

The Wilson's Promontory Lighthouse is the most southerly lighthouse on mainland Victoria. The 18 kilometre walk is well worth it to experience its spectacular location.

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The Wilson's Promontory Lighthouse
Photograph: Winsome Bonham

Wilson's Promontory Tower c. 1985 with original lantern room
Photograph: Greg Beck

Wilson's Promontory Lightstation
Photograph: Greg Beck

Supplying the Wilson's Promontory Lightstation
Photograph: AMSA

Wilson's Promontory marks the southern-most point of mainland Australia, and overlooks a relatively narrow shipping channel through Bass Strait between Tasmania and Victoria. The promontory was first sighted by Bass and Flinders in 1798, and was named by Governor Hunter in honour of Thomas Wilson, a merchant engaged in the Australian trade.

The Wilson's Promontory Lighthouse and keepers' cottages were built by convict labourers on a 90 metre cliff on the point, over the period 1853-1859, using locally sourced granite. The works were supervised by James Balmain and Charles Maplestone of the Public Works Department, and contracted to P.S. Sinclair of North Melbourne.

The lighthouse construction cost £15,572, which was shared between the Victorian and New South Wales governments. The lantern and apparatus, sourced from J.F. Dow & Co, cost £477, 19s, 10d. This original light, a fixed catadioptric light using 32 wicks in parabolic mirrors, was replaced in 1913 by a Chance Brothers vapourised kerosene incandescent mantle.

The parabolic mirrors were replaced in 1975 by a generator-powered electric lamp array when the light was converted to electricity, which in turn was converted to solar power in 1993.

The rough circular stone tower was originally painted white. In the 1980s, the paintwork was stripped off, and the tower has been completely restored to the original stone finish. The white light, 117 metres above sea level, is visible for 25 miles.

A visitor in 1935 noted the maritime atmosphere at the lighthouse, comparing the lightstation to "a ship on dry land". Lorenzo Robertson commented:

"There is a man-o'-war's orderliness about it, a crack-liner spotlessness, a nautical routine, a personnel whose brown, brawny arms tattooed with anchors and ugly ladies indubitably proclaim them old sailormen. The interiors of the cottages had the unmistakeable ship-like smell of fresh paintwork and salt. There are pictures of ships on the walls, models of ships in cases over the mantlepieces, photographs framed in little cork lifebuoys, sea boots standing on sea chests, burnished copper jugs, neat coils of rope, sou'westers and oilskins on pegs...."

The granite buildings, whitewashed and red-roofed, reminded him of a Cornish fishing village.

There are four keepers' cottages, which were also built of local granite, with corrugated iron roofs. One of the cottages was rebuilt in 1924, and two others rebuilt in 1952 after being destroyed during a bushfire.

The lighthouse and keepers' cottages are located within the Wilson's Promontory National Park, and since demanning the cottages have become available for accommodation. However, there is no road to the lighthouse, with access to the lightstation a relatively strenuous 18 kilometre walk.

Access

The Surrounding Area

• The Cliffy Island Lighthouse to the east
• The Deal Island Lighthouse to the south
• The Cape Liptrap Lighthouse to the west
• Wilson's Promontory by Gippsland Tourism
• Walkabout - Wilson's Promontory
• Wilson's Promontory National Park
• Wilson's Promontory Marine National Park
• Tidal River by Camping Association of Victoria

The Wilson's Promontory Lighthouse
Photograph: Grant Maizels

Special Thanks to:

• Winsome Bonham for Photograph
• Greg Beck for Photographs
• Brian Lord for Photograph
• Denise Shultz for Photograph
• Grant Maizels for Photographs

Sources:

• AMSA
• From Dusk Till Dawn by Gordon Reid
• Lighthouses of Victoria by Dacre Smyth
• Lighthouses of Australia: Images from the End of an Era by John Ibbotson

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)