Year first lit 1996 (current) Height 13 m Focal height 140 m | Deactivated 1996 (first) Range 48,152 m Year first constructed 1891 (first) | |
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Location Maatsuyker IslandTasmaniaAustralia Construction brick tower (first)fiberglass tower (current) Tower shape conical frustum tower with balcony and lantern (first) Markings / pattern white tower and lantern | ||
Maatsuyker Island Lighthouse was the last Australian lighthouse still being officially operated by lightkeepers. A second, smaller and automated lighthouse was installed in 1996 but it is unclear whether volunteers are going to continue to work the lights on Maatsuyker Island.
The lighthouse is located near the south west tip of Maatsuyker Island, probably because its main function originally would have been to warn ships approaching from the west and being blown in an easterly direction by the prevailing westerly winds of the Roaring Forties. Many ships were shipwrecked on the south and west coasts of Tasmania from the earliest days of sail, until the advent of modern navigation aids, because of a combination of the westerly gales and the dangerous coastline.
In 1891 the lighthouse was completed and until today it remains Australia's most southerly lighthouse. A first order Fresnel lens made by Chance Brothers was used in the lantern and is still operational. From the inauguration until the installation of the automated light, the lighthouse was manned by a small staff of lighthouse keepers, who constituted the total population of the island.