Bathurst Lighthouse is one of two lighthouses on

Rottnest Island Rottnest Island ( nys, Wadjemup), often colloquially referred to as "Rotto", is a island off the coast of Western Australia, located west of Fremantle. A sandy, low-lying island formed on a base of aeolianite limestone, Rottnest is an A-class ...

, the other being

Wadjemup Lighthouse Completed in 1849, the original Wadjemup Lighthouse (also known as Rottnest Island Light Station) was Western Australia's first stone lighthouse and was built to provide a safer sailing passage for ships to Fremantle Port and the Swan River Col ...

. It is located on Bathurst Point, in the northeast of the island, and was activated in 1900. The lighthouse was erected in response to a series of shipping disasters in the area, which included the loss of ''

City of York The City of York is a unitary authority area with city status in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. The district's main settlement is York, and it extends to the surrounding area including the town of Haxby and the villages o ...

'' in 1899. The light source and lantern house were originally to be used at

Cape Leeuwin Cape Leeuwin is the most south-westerly (but not most southerly) mainland point of the Australian continent, in the state of Western Australia. Description A few small islands and rocks, the St Alouarn Islands, extend further in Flinders ...

but were then built in on Rottnest Island. In 1920 the original acetylene flame was replaced by a flasher, which made the keeper superfluous. An electric light was installed in 1986. Bathurst Lighthouse serves as the rear light in the pair of Kingston Reef's

leading lights Leading lights (also known as range lights in the United States) are a pair of light beacons used in navigation to indicate a safe passage for vessels entering a shallow or dangerous channel; they may also be used for position fixing. At night ...

, which guide ships departing from

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

through the reefs near the island. Its light is

characterised A phenotypic trait, simply trait, or character state is a distinct variant of a phenotypic characteristic of an organism; it may be either inherited or determined environmentally, but typically occurs as a combination of the two.Lawrence, Elea ...

by a group of four flashes that occurs every sixteen seconds.

See also

References

Further reading