Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse

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View of the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse
Inscription on the tower base

The Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse is the furthest west located lighthouse on the continent of Australia . It is located on the southwestern tip of the continent of Australia on Cape Leeuwin .

The lighthouse is listed as a monument on the Commonwealth Heritage in Western Australia .

history

Notice board on the site of the lighthouse

The 39 meter high lighthouse was built from 1895 to 1896. However, it had taken 15 years before the decision was made to build it because Western Australia was the financially weakest British colony on the Australian continent at the time, and a project of this size was difficult to implement. There were also static problems with the foundation, as the required thickness and thus the strength of the subsoil was insufficient.

The original plan was to create two lighthouses of which, the one with a white and the other with a red light fired should be. Although the foundations of both towers were completed, this concept was not pursued, as this type of lighting was expected to irritate the ships.

The lighthouse as well as the houses of the lighthouse keepers were made of the existing limestone and its lighting extends from a distance of 40 km. The tower has seven floors and 186 steps. From 1925 the lighthouse was fired with kerosene and its light intensity could be tripled. In 1955 a radio beacon signal was set up.

The tower was manned until the kerosene firing in 1982, when it was one of the last in the world to be decommissioned and a 1000 watt halogen lamp was installed. In September 1992 the light was automated.

There is also an automated weather station on the site.

Although Cape Leeuwin with its lighthouse is not the southernmost point of the Australian continent, with the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn it is one of the three "big" capes of the southern hemisphere and a symbolic waypoint for reaching or passing Australia for ocean navigation from or to the open Indian Ocean .

tourism

The lighthouse can be reached on a paved road via Augusta , and tours are organized by the Augusta Margaret River Tourist Bureau . Accommodation for tourists in the guards' houses is not possible.

View of the houses of the lighthouse keepers and the lighthouse

See also

Web links

Commons : Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. lighthouse.net.au ( Memento of the original from February 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : Lighthouses in Western Australia, Cape Leewin Lighthouse , in English, accessed September 25, 2011  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lighthouse.net.au

Coordinates: 34 ° 22 ′ 29.6 ″  S , 115 ° 8 ′ 10.1 ″  E