LIGHTING THE NOR'-WEST.

The West Australian, Perth, Wednesday 29 June, 1910.

Perhaps the most interesting light of all

is that installed on Bedout Island some 60

miles north-east of Port Hedland. Steaming

northward in the Koombana the Colonial

Secretary was able to discern the light

some 16 miles away, and he was inspired

with respect for an apparatus which un-

attended was thus faithfully discharging 

its duty to the people who go down to the sea

in ships. 

Bedout is a low-lying coralline island on the 

steamer course between Port Hedland and 

Broome, and is inhabited in large numbers by 

birds, penguins, rats, and turtles. The island 

is sandy, and is only some 20ft. above 

high-water mark, whilst on its western side 

a menacing reef runs out for about three miles. 

One wreck at least, and the remains of it can 

be seen, the island has to its debit, and the 

Albany on one occasion on a passage southward 

from Broome ran ashore, but fortunately missed

the shore and was floated off at high tide.

While the tide was low a huge boulder was

seen within a few feet off the ship's propeller. 

The board of inquiry considered this the most 

important light required on the coast, but its 

isolated position, the long extent of reefs, and 

the high tides, rendered the establishment of 

an attended light a very difficult matter. 

It was then that the Government decided to 

experiment with a Norwegian patent —an 

acetone (dissolved acetylene) light, which 

unattended could be left for a period of six 

months and upwards. Trials at Fremantle 

over a term of seven months proved the 

light to be so satisfactory that it was decided 

to install on Bedout an apparatus, which, 

self-fed, would keep alight for upwards of a 

year. The light is automatically occulting, the 

machinery being most intricate and ingenious, 

and has a range of visibility from the horizon

of 9½ miles. As the light is situated in the

hurricane zone the steel tower has been

specially designed to withstand heavy gales

of a cyclonic nature. When the Government 

steamer Penguin called there a few weeks 

ago the light, after six months' burning, was 

found to be in perfect order, and had still enough 

fuel to keep it going for another six weeks. The 

fear that the birds would have soiled the lantern 

was proved to have been groundless, so the 

cylinders were recharged and the apparatus, 

unattended and unhelped, will be left to carry 

on its beneficent work for twelve months before 

it is again visited. 

The cost of the erection and installation was 

only £4,159. Considerable importance attaches 

to this experiment. Not only are these lighthouses 

more economical in construction and in maintenance,

obviating, as they do, the building of living quarters 

and the employment of keepers, but they are 

specially adapted for isolated spots on the coast to 

which it would be difficult and expensive to carry 

building materials and stores. If the Bedout Island

continues to give satisfaction, as it is confidently 

believed it will, then the problem of lighting other 

danger points upon the cost will become greatly 

simplified.

This report makes it clear that Bedout Island lighthouse was not manned. Clearly a shortcoming of this system was the fact that if the light went out, no one was any the wiser. Captain Allen did not have the benefit of this crucial lighthouse during the final, fateful moments of the Koombana.


The Western Australian, 29 June, 1910.

NOR'-WEST LIGHT.

RECENT ADDITIONS.

(By "Vindex.")

One of the most important functions 

connected with the visit of the Colonial 

Secretary to the Nor'-West was the opening 

of three of the six new lighthouses which are

being established along the coast for the

guidance of mariners and the protection of

the travelling public. In 1906 the necessity 

for additional navigation lights around

the extensive and dangerous coast north of

Geraldton was brought under the notice of

the Government by the various shipping

companies trading between Fremantle, the

Nor'-West ports, and Singapore. The perils

which abound at all points of the coast had

already been drawn attention to by a score

of wrecks, attended in many instances with

a large loss of human life, and the increasing

trade with the Nor'-West and Singapore and

the larger and more luxurious boats recently

brought on to that service, made the provision 

of additional lights an absolute necessity. The 

Government realised what was wanted, and 

they were spurred on to immediate action, rather 

than deterred, by the fact that the lighting of the 

whole of the Australian coast will shortly become 

a responsibility of the Federal authority. The

Nor'-West coast was undoubtedly the darkest 

and most sinister of any portion of the Continent, 

and having experienced something of the 

difficulty of getting necessary services, such 

as telegraph and postal conveniences, from an 

authority situated so far away as Melbourne, the 

State Government decided to build at once such 

lighthouses as were most urgently necessary 

because when the Federal Government assumed 

control they would be committed to the maintenance 

of all lights then existing. Accordingly, in 1906 the 

Colonial Secretary appointed a board, comprising 

Captains Laurie, Arundel, and Irvine (Chief Harbour-master),

to take evidence and submit a recommendation as 

to the four most important cites north of Geraldton 

which should be lit. In March 1907, the board made 

a recommendation for the erection of lighthouses at

Cape Inscription, Point Cloates, Bedout

Island, and Cape Leveque. The necessary

surveys were at once put in hand, and the

preparation of plans was proceeded with.

Subsequently owing to the loss of the ss.

Mildura a North-West Cape the Government 

decided upon the erection of a light in that 

vicinity on Vlaming Head. Also, it was decided 

to improve, the light on Gantheaume Point, 

near Broome, thus making no less than six 

new lights on the coast between Geraldton and 

Derby. What those lights will mean only those 

who know the coast can understand. Practically 

from Shark Bay northward is a continuous 

succession of islands, large and small, here and

there are reefs seen and unseen and, in 

apparently open sea only narrow passages

which must be threaded with a delicate hand

and alert mind on the wheel. There is the

famous Mary Ann Passage, which steamers

negotiate only in daylight, so treacherous

are the waters in the vicinity, and with

ports that shut and open with the tides, the

delay of a few hours in darkness often

means the missing of a tide and having

to wait outside a port for a further few

hours till the incoming flow is graciously

pleased to allow the vessel to enter. Small

wonder that freights are high and fares

almost prohibitive. Belief that facilitating

the navigation of the coast would give the

Nor'-West the benefit of reduced charges

was a big factor in inducing the Government 

to vote £50,000 for the lighting scheme.

Cape Inscription.

The first the new lights met with in

proceeding northward along the coast is at

the northern end of Dirk Hartog Island, a

spot rich in historical associations. Nearly

300 years ago, long before Australia was

even in the womb of civilisation, the Dutch

navigator Dirk Hartog, in command of the

Eendracht, outward bound from Holland to

the Indies, entered Shark Bay, and landing

on the long island which now bears his

name, selected a spot on the cliffs at the

northern end, and in a rock fissure

erected a post to which he nailed a tin-

plate bearing the date of his visit and the

name of his boat. That was in 1616, when

Australia was indeed a terra incognita.

Eighty-one years later a compatriot, Wil-

helm De Vlaming, visited the spot, and re-

moving Dirk Hartog's plate placed a duplicate 

in its stead. The original now reposes in the 

Museum at Amsterdam. Vlaming's inscription 

was seen by Captain Hamelin, of the French 

exploring vessel Naturaliste, in 1801, but it 

had disappeared when Lieutenant King caused 

a search to be made for it in 1822. It is supposed, 

however, to have been removed by the French 

navigator, De Freycinet, in 1818, and sent to the 

Museum of the French Institute. It is from those

plates that Cape Inscription takes its name.

The two spars on which the inscriptions of

Vlaming and Hamelin had been posted 

remained there until comparatively recently,

but when the erection of the lighthouse was

commenced the Government had the posts,

which were in a fair state of preservation,

removed and deposited in the Western 

Australian Museum, where they provide a most

romantic link with the very earliest exploration 

of the Western Australian coast. It is on this 

historic spot that Cape Inscription lighthouse 

has been erected, and not 40 yards from the 

tower is a chained enclosure on the very edge 

of the cliffs, where two white posts hold copper-

plate inscriptions indicating that here stood

Vlaming's post and there Hamelin's.

Anchoring in Turtle Bay, where in the 

laying season turtles may be found in 

hundreds as they come ashore at night to bury

their eggs in the sand, one ascends precipitous 

cliffs and in the course of a two mile walk comes 

upon the handsome lighthouse tower, from the 

summit of which one gazes down upon the Indian 

Ocean tumbling and foaming against the jagged 

rocks 130ft. below. To the north-east is Dorre Island,

so christened by Dirk Hartog because of its

barrenness. The tower is substantially built of 

cement concrete, and commodious premises 

of the same material are provided for the two 

keepers. On the occasion of Mr. Connolly's 

visit the whole establishment was decked 

with bunting, and because of the historic 

associations of the place the Minister took 

a special delight in declaring open that light 

which had cost the Government £8,228. The 

need of a warning flash at this point, which, 

overlooks Naturaliste Channel separating 

Dirk Hartog and Dorre Islands, had long 

been felt by navigators trading to and from 

Carnarvon and Denham. Prior to its erection 

vessels had to time their departure from 

Carnarvon so as to avoid passing through 

the channel after dusk, just in the same way 

as vessels going to and from Onslow have to 

wait for day-light before attempting to thread 

their way through Mary Ann Passage. Now, 

so far as Natualiste Channel is concerned,

that disability is removed, and with the aid 

of Cape Inscription's guiding ray vessels

may negotiate the passage at any hour of

day or night. What is badly wanted is that

Mary Ann Passage may be made equally

negotiable by the installation of lights on

Sandy Bay and North Sandy Island.

Point Cloates.

The next of the new lights is that in

course of erection on the summit of a hill

near Point Cloates. The record of this

headland is dark with the stain of many

wrecks. On the long extent of reef which

surrounds the point, embroidering the coast

line with a dainty yet sinister ribbon of

white breakers, more vessels have been

smashed to matchwood than on any other

portion of the coast. Standing near the

half-completed tower a week ago the

Colonial Secretary was able to look down

upon the perilous scene and note upon the

sand just inside the reef a dark object

which is all that remains of the once fine

steamer Perth. Many years ago a Norwegian 

vessel came to grief here, and the two 

survivors owed their lives to the compassion 

of the natives, with whom they lived for some 

considerable time until a white man happened 

into that vicinity and took the two sailors back 

to civilisation. An Austrian steamer loaded with 

sugar from Java, the vessel Benan, the schooner

Dawn, and innumerable luggers are amongst 

the many victims to the ruthless sea and rocks 

near Point Cloates. Most of the disasters have 

been attributed to a heavy inset which has 

carried vessels out of their course, but whatever 

the cause the dangers of the place will be 

considerably minimised by the erection of a light

which will be the most powerful north of

the Naturaliste, and which will telegraph a

benevolent flash every five seconds for a

distance of 16 miles at sea. The builders

are able to quarry a very good class of

sandstone in the vicinity, and this is carried 

by a zigzag horse tramway to the summit of 

Cloates Hill, where the tower is already a 

conspicuous landmark. The quarters for the 

two keepers are comfortable and extensive, 

as indeed they need to be for anyone who 

has to live at so remote and desolate a spot 

as Point Cloates.

Vlaming Head.

Only 60 miles further to the north is the

site of the third light, the erection of which

will early be commenced. Vlaming Head

is a conspicuously elevated portion of the

North-west Cape. Hereabouts the shore is

fringed with outlying reefs which off Low

Point run out from the land as far as three

miles. It was at this spot that the steamer

Mildura, southward bound with a full 

consignment of cattle, piled up on the rocks,

and her hull and spars, still apparently in-

tact although irrecoverable, are a feature

of interest to travellers on the coastal

steamers. North-west Cape, like Cape 

Inscription, is a turning point in the course of

vessels, and the lamp will be a guide and

a warning to steamers going to and from

Onslow or coming with cattle direct from

the northern ports. Another light on Legendre, 

one of the islands of the Dampier Archipelago, 

would be helpful to steamers making for 

Cossack before the gleam of Jarman Island 

is picked up.

Gantheaume Point.

The light at Gantheaume Point, near

Broome, is of a less sensational interest, but

although merely replacing a former installation, 

is to all intents and purposes new.

Some six years ago a temporary light was

placed on this point to mark the port, but

as this was scarcely adequate to meet the

needs of the place the old light and tower

have been removed and new and more 

elaborate ones placed in their stead. The

cost of the alterations was about £1,100.

Cape Leveque.

The highly important responsibility of

marking and illuminating the entrance to

King Sound, with its myriad islands and

boiling tide, will be the function of the

light to be erected at Cape Leveque, the

most northerly of all the lights. Its site

is just six miles from Swan Point, on which

the Karrakatta, a very fine vessel built for

the Singapore-Fremantle trade, was lost

about ten years ago. Whilst it is unlikely

that even with the message of caution and

guidance which Cape Leveque will flash to

mariners, the negotiation of Sunday Straits

will be attempted after dusk, still to vessels

making from Broome or Singapore to Derby

and arriving at the entrance to King Sound

at night the light will be of assistance in

picking up an anchorage at which to ride

till light and tide are favourable. The erection 

of this new home for the watchers by

the sea will be shortly put in hand, and

the estimated cost of the work is £8,000.

The light should be visible from the horizon

at a distance of nearly 14 miles.

When all these new installations are complete 

the North-West coast will be still but

indifferently lighted. Nevertheless the fact

that there will then be between Fremantle

and Derby nine efficient lighthouses, including 

those at Point Moore (Geraldton), Carnarvon, 

and Jarman Island (Point Sampson)

is proof that the Government have done

something to minimise the ten thousand

dangers of the North-West coast, and, to

make travel happier and cheaper for both

navigators and passengers. The coastline

is so immense, and the menacing points so

many, that the present lights may be 

multiplied a hundred fold without leading 

mariners to treat the coast with anything but

wholesome respect.

courtesy Trove

NOTICE TO MARINERS. Western Australia-North-West Coast. 1516/12. NOTICE is hereby given that the Bedout Island Light, lat. 19.35 S., long. 119.6 E., has been relighted. Description of light as follows:-Unattended, white, flashing every 10 seconds, thus: Flash 2 secs., eclipse 8 secs.; height of focal plane, 66 feet; visible 14 miles in clear weather. Charts affected. No. 1055,-Bedout Island. to Cape Cuvier. No. 1048.-Buccaneer Archipelago to Bedout. C. J. IRVINE, Chief Harbour Master. Harbour and Light Department, Fremantle, 22nd May, 1912.