No 14 Cape Banks - Sept 2012 SA near Carpenter Rocks

A part of the history around Port MacDonnell relates to Ben Germein's role in saving passengers and crew from the Admella.  I will go into this further in a minute. 

Some facts:

• built in 1883
• Original height was 7.5 metres high
• Made of local limestone
• The lantern was taken from the original Port MacDonnell lighthouse that was demolished in 1882

A little bit of trivia You may or may not know but the original lighthouses often had different coloured lights which could only be seen at certain distances. Red, green and white.  The closer you got to the Lilghthouse the different light could be seen alerting the captain to their nearness to land.

In May 1928, Cape Banks was raised to 15 metres. With this upgrade the light was demanned and the keeper's cottages have since been demolished. Until 1976 the light was run on a Dalen Acetylene Gas system which mixed the gas with air and also rotated a lens. It was then converted to electric in using the lens from St Francis Island.

Sorrow and death is so often associated with Lighthouses and our harsh australian coastline.  At this spot one of Australia's worst maritime disasters occurred where 89 people including 14 small children lost their lives.  The SS Admella had been recently built, bragging it's sohisticated 3 chamber steel hull making it almost unsinkable.  One passenger was so confident of it's safety he tore up his will before setting sail from Adelaide to Melbourne. 

Unfortunately it only took 15 minutes after the Admella hit a reef off Carenter Rocks for the steamer to break into 3, exactly where the 3 sections had been joined.  The passengers and crew didn't all drown initially, many died over a period of eight gruelling days whilst people watched on the shore, helpless to assist. In 1859 things were very different. Ben Germein payed a significant role in saving many of the 24 survivors.  When many others gave up, he continued until he was able to get a lifeboat out to the broken steamer to rescue those still allive.  Many had died or gone insane due to having only saltwater to drink. One comment from a rescuer was "...more like statues than human beings; their eyes fixed, their lips black, for want of water, and their limbs bleached white and swollen through exposure to the relentless surf..."
This is an interesting link with more detail Learn more about the Admella story.  The Corio was one of the ships who came to the rescue but was unable to get close enough to assist due to the horrendous conditions.  Amazingly enough the Corio sank in exactly the same spot in the 1950's.

Trvia for my grand-daughter Isha Isha loves horses so this little bit of trivia is for her.  Where so many perished, one passenger survived against all odds.  Hurtle Fisher was transporting 4 racehorses.  Both he and his champion racehorse 'The Barber' survived.  This horse made it to shore and became an Australian legend even though he never won another race.

What can go wrong but it's an adventure.....Dan keep smiling...we will get through this....

Not all our trips go to plan and this day we got a little bogged in Beachport Conservation Park.  Our second sand bog since we have started my Lighthouse quest. Once again I was all ready to provide suggestions of how we could get out of the situation...always looks so easy on TV shows.  Eventually rang the RAA who were unforgiving of us not being prepared.  When you are in a situation like this you aways call the Publican.  A quick call to the Beachport Pub to see if a local farmer wanted to earn some money and assist us and immediately the Publican's son was out to help.  Such a lovely thought and he appeared to know what he was doing with his 4wd ute.  30 minutes later who was in more trouble than us!  

Next call was to the SES who were located in Victoria doing some training ops which turned out to be us!! 4 men and one tough lady along with 2 mega tough long based Nissan Troupe and 20 minutes later they had our rescuer out and another 15 minutes later we were out...No charge and they seemed happy to be called out to do real rescuing rather than pretending to rescue people.  Anyway we really appreciated the fact that our trip to the Beachport Conservation Park had ended 200 metres into the real sand and two hours later we were nursing our pride.  That night we went to the Beachport Pub for tea and bought up in appreciation of the local lad trying to assist us.

We learnt a few things on this day.  Make sure your vehicle is suitable for real 4wd.  Our vehicle had a very low under carriage clearance and if we were serious about 4wdriving we need to upgrade our car.

Still it was an adventure and we learn more about working together under pressure the more we move out of our safe little suburban life and out in to our amazing country.  Australia is a pretty amazing place with so much to see in our backyard.

Griffiths Island Lighthouse, Port Fairy Victoria - August 2013

Since 1859, the Griffiths Island Lighthouse has faithfully guided ships into the security of historic Port Fairy located on the Moyne River.  Originally the lighthouse location was Rabbit Island but the lighthouse has never been moved but Islands joined.

What a statement to be made about a building made of blue-stone 11 metres high.  Has 'faithfully guided' would be something you might like on your tombstone not something you expect to be said of a lighthouse.  In saying that you do need to consider the life of a lighthouse keeper and their families.  The last lighthouse keeper manned this lighthouse for 25 years until 1959.  Quarter of a century ensuring the wick was lit and the prisms were in order.  Today the lighthouse is automated with solar energy, wind power and battery bank.  During that time Port Fairy was known to have one of the largest fishing fleets in Australia.  This sleepy little town was once the hub of the fishing industry and was primarily a whaling community, these days the fleets focus on crayfish, shark and abalone.

What are the characteristics of a lighthouse keeper? A 25 year dedication to the role and so much more...
Hugh Haldane was the last lighthouse keeper and although this dedication is something admiral, Hugh is known for something much greater.  Hugh and his two brothers decided to build a boat.  Not just any boat but a boat that changed the tuna industry in Australia for ever.  

The best way to learn about these three amazing brothers is through a a link at the bottom of this page. The Haldane brothers made a boat in Port Fairy over a period of 7 years from Australian hardwoods such as blue gum from the nearby

Otways.  They named this boat the Tacoma and in 1951 this boat made Australian history.  The boat was based on the plans from a ship building company owned by Harvey Pettridge in USA.  These 3 country lads had seen a photo of a deep sea boat made by Western Building company and had saved up $500 pound and sent it to Harvey Pettridge asking if they could buy a copy of the boats plans.  Western Building company replied that they didn't sell their plans to anyone but would send a copy to the brothers for luck.  Seven years later the Haldane brothers introduced the Tacoma to the Australian boating world and this boat is still a functioning fishing boat in Port Lincoln today.

The Haldane brother's had a son each and these boys manage the Tacoma and maintain the history that their fathers built.  It is the thing I love about my quest to photograph every Australian lighthouse.  Each lighthouse is unique and they generally have a bit of folk lore attached.

This lighthouse really appealed to me. At times when we make the trek to photograph a lighthouse I must admit, we can be a little disappointed.  Man has the capacity to make somethings just ugly and lacking character.  But there was no disappointment today when we took the 4 klm hike around the perimeter of Griffiths Island, saw the surfers out on the reef being pulled up onto the waves by jet skis, the island full of wildlife and steeped in history and this small but beautiful light.

The photograph to the right shows the Lighthouse keepers cottage which was demolished in the 1956 due to vandalism.

Ref: Three Men and a Boat - Landline - ABC

Lighthouse No 13 Haunted by a ghost - Cape Northumberland, Port MacDonnell SA

OK! a BIG "NO ENTRY AUTHORISED PERSONNEL ONLY" sign met us at the base of the driveway of the Cape Northumberland Lighthouse.  Dan, who once was a rebellious young man gave me that look of 'no you don't' and I had that look of 'yes we will' so up the driveway we went, past the gate to the cottages that sat below this red and white lighthouse begging to be photographed.

After a few attempts to stir someone from the first cottage I was prepared to just sneek up to the lighthouse and take my infamous shot of Dan peering into the camera lens as I lay in the doorway of the lighthouse.  But at that precise moment around the corner came a true Aussie icon who for the purpose of this story I will call 'Bob'.  Bob had the standard beer gut, a pair of stubbies and a holdne singlet on.  He would have looked at home with a stubby in his hand.

Bob's dad had bought this land 20 years ago, over 20 acres and which the Lighthouse was on.  As a conseqence of this the lighthouse was landlocked and registered under the National Trust.  He owned all the land except for the piece of soild beneath the lighthouse itself.  As such the government had clearly stated that unauthorised persons were not allowed on the commonwealth land.

He was a real character and had discussions with Mike Rann and the then treasurer Micheal Atkinson about his rights to bury his dad on the land.  As 'Bob' said, 'dad had no idea when he bought the and he was buying his own personal graveyard'  He invited Rann to his Dad's funeral of which he refused and under the law of our land he buried his Dad on the property he had bought.

He yarned for a while about the local area and changes he had seen and then he turned a blind eye whilst we cambered up to the Cape Northumberland lighthouse to meet our 13th house on our quest.

The lighthouse is supposed to be haunted by a woman in 1950s clothing and this has been witnessed both by more than one individuals at a time as described in the following newspaper article..

"The second incident (the first was at another lightstation) was a more communal experience. The man living next door to Mr Jordan at Cape Northumberland saw the saw the ghost in his house on the same night about a year ago.

'I was just lying in bed when this woman appeared at the end of the bed. She was looking at my wife and smiling. Oh, I smiled back at her and all that', says Mr Jordan. 'The clothes she was wearing were a bit out of date, but not really old-fashioned. She was playing with ends of a scarf she had on her head. I've no idea who she was either. All of a sudden she just vanished, like the one at Jaffa, right in front of me. 'I didn't tell anyone about it, but the next morning the chap from next door came up and told me he had seen exactly the same thing, which was strange'!" ('Keeper of the Night Light', The Advertiser, 8 February 1978)

 

Port MacDonnell, SA - Lighthouse 12 Sep 2012

Hitching up Ethel, our latest Jayco Expanda we left Adelaide and drove straight to Port MacDonnell where our first lighthouse was to be found.  Port MacDonnell is 394 kilometres from Adelaide and is 27 klms south of Mt Gambier.   We had decided to take the next 9 days meandering home learning about 8 SA lighthouses. 

What we noticed first of all was how beautiful the shore line from Port MacDonnell was.  Similar to the Great Ocean Road with the harshness of the ocean, the wind and rocks jutting out making this part of the coast very unforgiving.

It was obvious that any ship without navigation and travelling at night would be subject to this very treacherous section of SA coast.  There are two lighthouses in Port MacDonnell that we were to visit. 

Firstly we walked down to the Point and saw the foundations of the original MacDonnell lighthouse that was built in 1858.  It was very evident that the wind and ocean had eroded much of the cliffs away and back then the light only survived 23 years due to the danger of its collapse from the cliff on which it stood.  It was during this time that Ben Germein was appointed Lighthouse keeper.  So key points about this Lighthouse and it's keeper.

• Ben Germein was allowed to chose and name a Port in the area.  He chose Port MacDonnell and named it after the Governor of that time.
• Port MacDonnell was the largest Southeast Port and serviced Mount Gambier
• Ben lost three fingers when a brig 'John Omerod' capsized
• Ben was the driving force in saving the 25 people who survived the Admella wreck (but that is another story I will address later)
• Ben became melancholy and disorientated in his later years and spent many days disappearing in his boat
• In July 1893 he left his home and disappeared.  His decomposed body was found on the 28 August the same year.

This is all that is left of the original lighthouse.  The lighthouse and Lighthouse keepers cottage consisting of three rooms were removed and a new lighthouse located on the hill that was call The Cape Northumberland Lighthouse......so off we went to Lighthouse no 2.

Light House No 11 - Sep 2011 Cape Donington Port Lincoln

After spending an amazing time at Nyroca Scout Camp we moved on to Port Lincoln to firstly meet our Host Malcom Schluter for coffee and then onto the Lincoln National Park to photograph our 11th lighthouse.

The National Parks in SA are really well set up.  We had spent the day at Coffin Bay National Park just 2 days prior.  Here we experienced our first bogged in sand adventure.  Well it was fun until we had tried the digging down and adding bracken under the wheels, then onto sticks, then onto logs, all to no avail.

Eventually a man in a Toyota came around the bend, nearly collected us but realising we were bogged and in a Hyundai started to show how how real men are prepared.  % minutes later and we were free.  We spent the rest of the day nursing our 4wd ego and Dan fished while I lay in the sun and relax

Well back to Port Lincoln.  The Cape Donington Lighthouse is a 32 metres high hexagonal grey concrete tower built in 1905. The cape was named after Donington, Lincolnshire, England, the birthplace of Matthew Flinders.  If I was scoring on this one I gave it a 3/10.
Being a newer lighthouse it lacked the mystery and history of days gone by and tragedy that so often is linked to these towers.  However the area is steeped in history.

Matthew Flinders was the first European to arrive in the region, whilst circumnavigating the Australian continent on HMS Investigator in 1802. He climbed Stamford Hill where he surveyed the Lower Eyre Peninsula. Eight crew members of the Investigator, including two officers, were the first Europeans to drown in the dangerous waters at the southern end of Jusseau Peninsula, whilst in search of fresh water. Numerous names in the area are associated with this event, including Cape Catastrophe, numerous islands named after the deceased and Memory Cove, where a tablet was erected by Flinders in their memory.

So once again the tragic stories associated with these waters forge the building of these formidable towers.



See the lighthouse and view from the link below.
http://www.360cities.net/image/cape-donington-lighthouse-lincoln-np-south-australia#-160.39,18.83,70.0  

Lighthouse No 10 - Whyalla SA - Point Lowly

This was a day trip from Whyalla to visit our 11th Lighthouse. The Point Lowly Lighthouse stands out on a point jutting into the northern end of the Spencer Gulf.

It sits just below an isolated valley with the most amazing beach and about 5 beach houses.  Australia has some really beautiful beaches that have not been destroyed by commercialisation.  Remote and yet close to towns and sleepy little hamlets where you can rent a shack and get away from city living.  Fitzgerald Bay is one of those places. Accessed via a 20 klm dirt road when you arrive, you just want to be part of a place where time stands still. 

The lighthouse and two lighthouse keepers' cottages are the oldest buildings in the Whyalla area. Completed in 1883, the lighthouse eased the way for maritime traffic around Point Lowly. The original 15 metres tall tower was extended by eight metres in 1909. Manned for 90 years, the Point Lowly beacon became automated and was eventually delisted from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority register. Since 1995, the lighthouse has been owned by the City of Whyalla, while the cottages are available for holiday accommodation through the Whyalla Uniting Church.

So many lighthouses re linked to tragedy. This lighthouse is not isolated from sorrow and death.  As at Corny Point, men who gave up a normal job to make safe the passage for ships, saw tragedy in their own family.

On Tuesday 4th October, 1989 this article was printed in the local newspaper The Barrier Miner the following article was written....With reference to the drowning case at Point Lowly Lighthouse, it appears that Thomas Alfred Wells, aged 27, a son of the headkeeper, and a lad named Charles Duthie were out in a boat in the Rip. The boat capsized and both occupants were drowned The accident was witnessed by the fathers of both the young men. Duthie, senior, put out in a dingy to try to save them, but was met by Wells' floating corpse. Young Duthie was never seen after the boat capsized. A strong current was running, and as numerous sharks are known to be in the locality it is feared that the body will not be found. Wells was a brother of Mr. R. H. Wells fitter at the Proprietary works at Port Pirie, and Duthie a son of the second keeper of the Point Lowly Lighthouse

 

 



This is my standard shot I hope to take of most lighthouses.  Dan in the corner with his cheeky face.  I love this man.

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