Point Danger (Australia)
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| Location: | Gold Coast, Australia |
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| Year first lit: | 1971 |
| Automated: | 1971 |
| Height: | 20 meters |
| Elevation: | 45 metres |
| Range: | 18 nautical miles |
Point Danger is a high steep headland right on the border between Queensland and New South Wales, Australia, at the southern end of the Gold Coast. The headland separates Snapper Rocks/Rainbow Bay to the north, and Duranbah beach and the Tweed River mouth to the south.
The point was named by Captain Cook when he passed it on 16 May 1770. The danger in question was shoals about 5 miles off the coast, and for which Cook also named Mount Warning.[1] There's a number of reefs in that area, Fidos Reef, South Reef and Nine Mile Reef are popular dive locations.[2] (Nine Mile is named for the round trip distance from the Tweed mouth.[3])
A road leads up the headland from the inland side (which is not so steep) and on top are,
- A popular park and lookout.
- Captain Cook memorial lighthouse.
- Centaur Memorial and Walk of Remembrance
- The Point Danger Volunteer Marine Rescue.
The lighthouse is in a modern style and was the first in the world in 1971 to experiment with lasers to increase its beam. The experiment was unsuccessful and it returned to conventional electric lamps.
The Centaur Memorial remembers the sinking of Australian Hospital Ship Centaur by a Japanese submarine on 14 May 1943. The Walk of Remembrance commemorates other ships lost to Japanese and German action during World War II and takes the form of plaques arranged in a semi-circle around the lookout fence.
[edit] References
- Point Danger Volunteer Marine Rescue
- Point Danger lighthouse at lighthouse.net.au
- Centaur and Walk at bigvolcano.com.au
- ^ Captain Cook's Journal During the First Voyage Round the World, available freely at Project Gutenberg
- ^ Diving Australia, Neville Coleman and Nigel Marsh, 2003, ISBN 962-593-311-5, page 122.
- ^ 9 Mile Reef - Northern New South Wales page at Marinews
