5.1 Commonwealth heritage list – Goose Island Lighthouse
The following information is taken from the Goose Island Lighthouse listing on the Australian Heritage Database (Place ID: 105564)
Commonwealth heritage – statement of significance
The Goose Island Lighthouse, built in 1841-1846, is significant as an integral part of Bass Strait's mid-nineteenth century lighthouse network, and was constructed at a time when shipping was increasing between Melbourne, Hobart and Launceston. It was built using convict labour, which demonstrates the continuing role of convicts in the construction of government facilities in Tasmania during the 1840s. (Criterion A) (Australian Historic Themes 3.8.1 Shipping to and from Australian ports; 3.8.2 Safeguarding Australian products for long journeys and 3.16.1 Dealing with hazards and disasters)
The Goose Island Lighthouse is significant as one of five extant pre-1850 lighthouses in Tasmania. It is an important rural coastal landmark. (Criteria B and E).
Commonwealth heritage – criteria
There are nine criteria for inclusion in the Commonwealth Heritage List – meeting any one of these is sufficient for listing a place. These criteria are similar to those used in other commonwealth, state and local heritage legislation, although thresholds differ. In the following sections, the Goose Island Lighthouse is discussed in relation to each of the criteria as based on the current Commonwealth Heritage Listing Place ID 105564.
Criterion | Relevant Attributes Identified | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
Criterion B – Rarity This criterion is satisfied by places that have significant heritage value because of possession of uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of Australia’s natural or cultural history. |
The whole of the lighthouse tower, including its construction materials and details, as well as its landscape setting. |
The Goose Island Lighthouse is significant as one of five extant pre-1850 lighthouses in Tasmania. |
Criterion E – Aesthetics characteristics This criterion is satisfied by places that have significant heritage value because of importance in exhibiting particular aesthetic characteristics values by a community or cultural group. | The prominence of the lighthouse tower in its landscape setting. | The Goose Island Lighthouse is an important rural coastal landmark. |
5.2 TAS State heritage significance – Goose Island Lighthouse
The following information is taken directly from Goose Island Lighthouse’s listings on the Tasmanian State heritage register (THR ID: 10684).
TAS statement of significance
Goose Island is of historic cultural heritage significance as an important site in the nineteenth century development of maritime navigational aids through Bass Strait and along the Tasmanian coast. With a growing population, the expansion of ports such as Melbourne, Hobart and Launceston and emerging international trade patterns, the colony required safe and efficient waterways. Similar to other early lightstations, Goose Island was constructed using convict labour. Goose Island also demonstrates the evolution of light-keeping technology, the station being one of the first to use catadroptic technology in the Australian colonies. Goose Island Lighthouse is one of five pre-1850 lighthouses still in use in the state, and is the third oldest lighthouse in the country still in operation. It has significant archaeological potential being occupied for almost a century and because of its remote location, has undergone relatively little development. The site has the potential to yield information to better understand the development of navigational aids and domestic life in an isolated environment. Goose Island Lighthouse is a fine example of a nineteenth century lightstation, forming part of a wider network of stations around the coastline of Tasmania.
TAS State heritage criteria
The Heritage Council may enter a place in the Heritage Register if it meets one or more of the following criteria from the Historic Cultural Heritage Act 1995 (TAS).
| Criterion | Explanation and evidence |
|---|---|
| a) The place is important to the course or pattern of Tasmania’s history. | The lighthouse and related structures are important for their association with the early nineteenth century development of these aids most of which were constructed by convict labour. Goose Island Lighthouse was constructed at a time when shipping between Melbourne, Hobart and Launceston was increasing, and it contributed significantly to the Bass Strait network of lighthouses, including that of Deal Island. Goose Island Lighthouse is also of historic heritage significance as one of the earliest uses of the catadoptric technology in Australia. |
| b) The place possesses uncommon or rare aspects of Tasmania’s history. | The Goose Island Lightstation is of historic heritage significance as one of five extant pre-1850 lighthouses in Tasmania. It is the third oldest lighthouse in Australia still in existence and is still operating. |
| c) The place has the potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Tasmania’s history. | The buildings, outbuilding, surface and subsurface deposits, of the Goose Island Lighthouse and associated features, which are below or adjacent to the structures are artefacts in the archaeological sense of being the tangible products of human behaviour. As such, they have the potential to yield information that will contribute to a greater understanding of Tasmania’s history. This site has the potential to explore sequences of construction and building methods during the 19th century, changes in building fashions and technology, social and economic situations of past occupiers/owners, and reflections or expressions of 19th century ideology and family life. Such tangible evidence supports and contributes to our existing knowledge. The potential information from this site may also contribute to wider research frameworks within or outside Australia. The cemetery on Goose Island has research value as an index to the community’s social and religious history, and for its layer of biographical information. Information yielded may include local and regional burial practices, aspects of a community’s religious affiliations, economic and population statistics, changes in health and lifestyle or values and tastes. |
| d) The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of place in Tasmania’s history. | Goose Island Lighthouse, built in 1846, together with the surrounding ruins of the settlement, is of historic heritage significance because it represents the principal characters of a mid-nineteenth century light station complex. |
| e) The place is important in exhibiting particular aesthetic characteristics. | Goose Island Lighthouse is located in one of Tasmania’s most isolated waterways. The dramatic nature of the topography, lack of development and isolated setting collectively create a strong visual and aesthetic appeal.
|
These heritage values, identified and explained in the Commonwealth heritage list and the State heritage register, will form the basis of the management of Goose Island Lighthouse. In the event of necessary works, all criteria will be consulted to inform best practice management of the values associated with the lightstation. (See Section 7. Conservation management policies for further information on strategies to conserve heritage values of Goose Island Lighthouse).
5.3 Condition and integrity of the Commonwealth heritage values
A heritage monitoring program was implemented in 2016. Each site is visited and reviewed every two years where the heritage fabric and values of the site are evaluated. Assessment of the condition and integrity of the lighthouse’s values are derived from the latest available Heritage Asset Condition Report produced by AMSA’s maintenance contractor.
‘Condition’ is measured on a Good – Fair – Poor scale and incorporates the current condition of the specific value. Integrity is measured on a High – Medium – Low scale which incorporates the value’s intactness.
As a whole, Goose Island Lighthouse’s identified values demonstrate good condition and high integrity. The lighthouse tower’s prominence within its landscape setting is undisputed and retains much of its original fabric.
| Criteria | Attributes | Condition | Integrity |
| Criterion B – Rarity | The whole of the lighthouse tower including its construction materials and details landscape setting | Good | High |
| Criterion E – Aesthetics | The prominence of the lighthouse tower in its landscape setting. | Good | High |
5.4 Gain or loss of heritage values
Evidence for the potential gain or loss of heritage values will be documented within this section of future versions of this heritage management plan.