History

3.1 General history of lighthouses in Australia

The first lighthouse to be constructed along Australian soil was Macquarie Lighthouse, located at the entrance to Port Jackson, NSW. First lit in 1818, the cost of the lighthouse was recovered through the introduction of a levy on shipping. This was instigated by Governor Lachlan Macquarie, who ordered and named the light.

The following century oversaw the construction of hundreds of lighthouses around the country. Constructing and maintaining a lighthouse were costly ventures that often required the financial support of multiple colonies. However, they were deemed necessary aids in assisting the safety of mariners at sea. Lighthouses were firstly managed by the colony they lay within, with each colony developing their own style of lighthouse and operational system. Following Federation in 1901, which saw the various colonies unite under one Commonwealth government, lighthouse management was transferred from state hands to the Commonwealth Lighthouse Service.

Lamps and optics: an overview

Lighthouse technology has altered drastically over the centuries. Eighteenth century lighthouses were lit using parabolic mirrors and oil lamps. Documentation of early examples of parabolic mirrors in the United Kingdom, circa 1760, were documented as consisting of wood and lined with pieces of looking glass or plates of tin. As described by Searle, ’When light hits a shiny surface, it is reflected at an angle equal to that at which it hit. With a light source is placed in the focal point of a parabolic reflector, the light rays are reflected parallel to one another, producing a concentrated beam’.⁴

The catoptric system was largely obsolete from 1822 when Augustin Fresnel invented the dioptric glass lens. Dioptric systems were refined by Fresnel who took a convex lens and broke it down into a number of concentric annular rings. This design reduced the amount of light absorbed by the lens itself and reduced its overall weight.

The first dioptric lens was installed in the French lighthouse, Cordouan, in 1823. Fresnel’s dioptric system dominated lighthouse lens technology for over 150 years. The majority of heritage listed lighthouses in Australia still have dioptric lenses invented by Fresnel but made by others such as Chance Brothers (United Kingdom), Henry-LePaute (France), Barbier, Bernard & Turenne (France) and Svenska Aktiebolaget Gasaccumulator (Sweden).

Around 1900 incandescent burners came into use; in these, the fuel was supplied under pressure and burned inside an incandescent mantle, producing a brighter light within a smaller volume and with less fuel.

These optical systems were made in a range of standard sizes, called orders—see the Glossary of lighthouse terms in Appendix 2. Large dioptric lenses such as that shown in Figure 9 gradually decreased in popularity due to cost and the move towards unmanned automatic lighthouses. By the early 1900s, Australia had stopped ordering such lenses with the last installed at Eclipse Island in Western Australia in 1927. It is interesting to note that prior to that the last was ordered in 1909 for Cape DuCoudic in South Australia.

Smaller Fresnel lens assemblies continued to be made until the 1970s but eventually lost favour to cheaper plastic lanterns, which still used Fresnel’s technology.

In 1912, the Swedish engineer Gustaf Dalén was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for a series of inventions for acetylene-powered navigation lights. Dalén’s system—including the sun valve, the mixer, the flasher, and the cylinder containing compressed acetylene—proved efficient and reliable. Acetylene was quickly adopted by the fledgling Commonwealth Lighthouse Service from 1915, and remained in use until it was finally phased out in the 1990s.

Since then electric lighting—using mains power, diesel generators, and solar-voltaic systems—has become the universal source of energy for Australian navigation lights.

Figure 10. Dalén's system - sunvalve, mixer and flasher (Source: AMSA)

3.2 The Commonwealth Lighthouse Service

When the Australian colonies federated in 1901, they decided that the new Commonwealth government would be responsible for coastal lighthouses—that is, major lights used by vessels travelling from port to port—but not the minor lights used for navigation within harbours and rivers. There was a delay before this new arrangement came into effect. Existing lights continued to be operated by the states. 

Since 1915, various Commonwealth departments have managed lighthouses. AMSA, established under the Australian Maritime Safety Authority Act 1990 (Cth), is now responsible for operating Commonwealth lighthouses and other aids to navigation, along with its other functions.

3.3 Tasmanian lighthouse management administration

The table below outlines the timeline for Tasmanian lighthouse management. 

Time Period	Administration
1915-1927:	Lighthouse District No. 3 (Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania), Hobart Headquarters.
1927-1963:	Deputy Director of Lighthouses and Navigation, Tasmania.
1963-1972:	Department of Shipping and Transport, Regional Controller, Tasmania.
1972-1982:	Department of Transport [III], Regional Controller, Tasmania.
1982-1983:	Department of Transport and Construction. Victoria-Tasmania Region, Transport Division (Tasmania).
1983-1985:	Department of Transport [IV] Victoria-Tasmania Region, Hobart Office.
1985-1987:	Department of Transport [IV], Tasmanian Region.
1987-1990:	Department of Transport and Communications, Tasmanian Region.
1991-	Australian Maritime Safety Authority.

3.4 Mersey Bluff: a history

Aboriginal history

The history of the bluff stretches back thousands of generations, and there are many sites of Aboriginal heritage significance located mere meters from the lighthouse tower. This includes middens, tea tree living grounds, and petroglyphs. Stone artefacts were also found on the bluff, many of which have removed unlawfully. 

Further consultation with the local Aboriginal Corporation will be reflected in the section in updates to the plan and in future versions of the plan.

Early European history 

The Mersey River was first traversed by European explorers in 1823, but the landscape was deemed unfavourable for settlement. In 1826 however, the establishment of the Van Diemen’s Land Co. resulted in the region being explored, surveyed and settled – headed by Captain Bartholomew Boyle Thomas. 

The settlements of Torquay and Formby were established in 1851 and 1853 respectively – Torquay on the eastern bank of the Mersey River and Formby on the western. By 1854, a wharf and other port facilities had been completed, and the trading of agricultural produce and timber increased significantly. In 1890, the settlements of Torquay and Formby amalgamated creating the township of Devonport.⁷

3.5 Planning a lighthouse

Why Mersey Bluff?

Prior to the installation of a lighthouse, an obelisk was mounted on Mersey Bluff that could be observed for some distance from sea. However, the obelisk could not be sighted after nightfall nor during cloudy conditions, leaving mariners entering the river from the westward completely unguided. Owing to the ever-increasing popularity of Formby (later Devonport) as a hub for agricultural and timber trade, the Marine Board determined that a light should be established on the Bluff in place of the obelisk.⁸  The Bluff’s position at the mouth of the Mersey River ensured the safe passage of mariners entering from Bass Strait.

Design

Mersey Bluff Lighthouse was designed by Huckson and Hutchison of Hobart. The original 1889 blueprint design illustrated a circular brick structure complete with capstone and weather vane.

Figure 11. Huckson & Hutchison design blueprint for Mersey Bluff Lighthouse 1889. NAA: A9568, 5/7/1 (© Commonwealth of Australia, National Archives of Australia)

Construction 

In June of 1888, tenders were called for the building of the lighthouse, keeper’s house, flagpole, tide house and signal shed. Messrs T and F Duff were chosen as the successful tenders with a cost of £1,559. Construction commenced on 16 October 1888 – which was reportedly “…carried out in a most substantial manner”.⁹  Constructed with a cement concrete foundation, the brick tower stood on a “plinth of soild basalt” with a cap of white Bellerive sandstone.¹⁰  The lighthouse was completed less than 12 months after commencing with work officially ceasing on the 28th of May 1889. 

The Mersey Bluff lighthouse was officially opened on 2 September 1889.¹¹

Equipment when built 

Following completion, Mersey Bluff Lighthouse stood fitted with a 4th Order Chance Bros. dioptric lens. The light could be observed for a distance of 12 miles weather permitting.¹²

The lighthouse tower was accompanied by a Superintendent’s quarters, signal shed, tide house and flagpole.

Superintendents (lightkeepers) were stationed at the lighthouse. Reports indicate two keepers were stationed there in 1912, a third having been removed just previously.

The lighthouse was de-manned in 1920 following its conversion to automatic electric operation.
 

Figure 12. Mersey Bluff [picture] [ca. 1910] In: Crowther album 3, no. 16], digitised item from: W.L. Crowther Library, State Library of Tasmania

3.6 Major events

The following table details the major events to have occurred at Mersey Bluff Lighthouse from its construction in 1889 to present day.

Date	Event
2 Sept 1889	Mersey Bluff Lighthouse officially opened.
1920	Lighthouse de-manned following conversion to DC Electric operation.13
Nov 1921	Acetylene explosion inside lantern room damages 4th Order Chance Bros. lens. (see Appendix 5. for original and transcribed report of 1921 explosion).
1929	Vertical red stripes painted on tower (see Appendix 6. for Notice to Mariners)
1966	Keepers’ houses demolished.
1976	Tiagarra Aboriginal Cultural Centre and Museum established on bluff nearby lighthouse.
2004	Mersey Bluff Lighthouse listed on Commonwealth Heritage List.