Home»ALL PHOTOGRAPHS»AUSTRALIA»WESTERN AUSTRALIA»Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse, Western Australia

Location
Latitude – 34 deg.22 South. Longitude – 115 degrees 08 East.Located at the most south westerly point of the Australian mainland in the Leeuwin Naturaliste National Park not far from Augusta in South Western Western Australia.This is the point where the waters of the Indian and the Great Southern Ocean merge and mix.
Some History
Dutch Explorer Dirk Hartog, in his ship Eendracht, left a pewter plate on Dirk Hartog Island and little other written record of his visit in 1616 to the northern Western Australian coast . Two years later in 1618 the ship Zeewulf made landfall in a similar place as did Frederick de Houtman in 1619.It was not till March 1622 that the Dutch galleon Leewin sailed further south and found the low sandy dunes now known as Cape Leeuwin.The first known European sighting of the Cape was by Bruni d’Entrecasteaux in 1791. D’Entrecasteaux thought the Cape was an island, and accordingly named it Isle St Allouarn (“Isle of St Allouarn”), in honour of Francois de St Allouarn. Ten years later, on the 7th December 1801 Matthew Flinders visited the area, concluding that the Isle St Allouarn was in fact a cape shortly after he commenced his charting of the Australian coast in the Investigator.
The Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse
A lighthouse at Cape Leeuwin may have been first proposed as early as 1858 although other records say as late as 1881. Lack of interest in contributing to the overal cost of building it by the eastern Australian states saw the project languish until the gold rushes of the late 1880’s in Western Australia permitted the small colony of Swan River to go it alone with the first stone laid by the then Premier of the colony John Forrest on 13th December 1895. On completion a year later,on 10th December 1896, the lighthouse was officially dedicated to the worlds mariners.
Lighthouse Details
Tower Height – 40 metres176 steps to balcony near the top at 31.5 metresElevation of base – 16 metresCost – $36,000Base walls approx 2metre thickTop walls approx 1metre thickTotally manually operated and ran on a clockwork mechanism and kerosene burners till 1982 .Converted to Electric Operation in September 1992 and last lighthouse keeper vacates keepers cottage.Constructed of local Tamala Limestone hand cut from the nearby Quarry Bay quarry.