Old Burnett Heads Light

Old Burnett Heads Light

Old Burnett Heads Light, 2010
Queensland
Location Burnett Heads
Queensland
Australia
Coordinates 24°45′48.96″S 152°24′32.83″E / 24.7636000°S 152.4091194°E / -24.7636000; 152.4091194Coordinates: 24°45′48.96″S 152°24′32.83″E / 24.7636000°S 152.4091194°E / -24.7636000; 152.4091194
Year first constructed 1873
Deactivated 1971
Construction timber frame clad with weatherboards
Tower shape tapered hexagonal prism tower with balcony and lantern[1]
Markings / pattern white tower, red lantern dome
Height 30 feet (9.1 m)
Original lens fifth order Fresnel lens
ARLHS number AUS-281

The Old Burnett Heads Light is an inactive lighthouse which used to be located on the south side of the Burnett River entrance, in Burnett Heads, Queensland, Australia. It was relocated to the Burnett Heads Lighthouse Holiday Park. It is one of only two lighthouse surviving to be constructed of timber frame clad with weatherboards, the other being the original Cleveland Point Light.[2]

History

The Burnett Heads Lighthouse Holiday Park

In the early 1870s Comboyuro Point Light and Cowan Cowan Point Light, two of the lighthouses on Moreton Island were upgraded. A higher tower with a better apparatus was constructed for Comboyuro Point and an improved apparatus was constructed for Cowan Cowan Point. The old apparatus from Comboyuro Point was installed at Cleveland Point Light. The apparatus from Cowan Cowan Point was installed at the old tower from Comboyuro Point, and the tower was installed at the entrance to Burnett River.[3] The date of this installation is given as either 1873[4][5] or 1874.[6] Until 1932 it was occupied by a lighthouse keeper. In 1932 the light was converted to acetylene gas (carbide lamp), automated and demanned.[7]

The lighthouse operated until 1971, when it was replaced by the New Burnett Heads Light. It was then relocated about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) inland into Burnett River and restored. The concrete base and the steps of the lighthouse are still present next to the new tower.[7] The original fifth order Fresnel lens is still mounted in the tower.[8]

Site operation and visiting

Plans for the conversion to automatic operation, 1920

The site and the lighthouse are managed by the Bundaberg Regional Council. The Burnett Heads Lighthouse Holiday Park is open, but the tower is closed to the public.[5]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Rowlett says square though the plans to the left clearly show a hexagonal form.
  2. ↑ AHD8651.
  3. ↑ Davenport 1986, p. 169. Note that Bundaberg Regional Library says the tower itself was from Cowan Cowan Point.
  4. ↑ Bundaberg Regional Library.
  5. 1 2 Rowlett.
  6. ↑ Davenport 1986, p. 169.
  7. 1 2 Lighthouses of Australia Inc.
  8. ↑ Flotwell 2003.

References

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