Point Lonsdale, A Beacon of Safety on Treacherous Waters

Point Lonsdale VIC 3225, Australia

4.5

Introduction

The town of Point Lonsdale is located a few kilometers southwest of Queenscliff and is home to Australia's last manned lighthouse. This lighthouse, along with four other light facilities in Queenscliff, forms a complex navigation system to help ships safely navigate through Port Phillip Bay. Due to the dangerous waters in this area, this group of lighthouses may be the most complex system in Australia. Unlike early lighthouse keepers who were responsible for maintaining the lights, the Point Lonsdale lighthouse's lighting system no longer requires human maintenance. Furthermore, the staff's main task is to monitor ships entering and leaving the bay, requiring all large vessels to contact the signal station before entering or leaving the bay. The current structure of the lighthouse was built in 1902 and replaced the wooden structure of the previous lighthouse. In the past, Australians did not appreciate their history, so the fate of the old lighthouse was quite tragic and it was demolished and treated as firewood. In the 1950s, two octagonal buildings were added to the base of the lighthouse to observe and control ships entering and leaving the bay.