Cape Jaffa Lighthouse is a decommissioned lighthouse formerly located on

Margaret Brock Reef __NOTOC__ Margaret Brock Reef is a reef in the Australian state of South Australia located in the state's coastal waters on its south-east coast about west of the headland of Cape Jaffa and about south-west of the town of Kingston SE. It is t ...

near Cape Jaffa on the southeast coast of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

and whose tower has been located in the town of

Kingston SE Kingston SE (Kingston South East to distinguish it from Kingston-on-Murray) formerly Kingston is a town in the Australian state of South Australia located in the state's south-east coastline on the shores of Lacepede Bay. It is located about ...

since 1976. The former lighthouse tower is owned by the

National Trust of South Australia The National Trust of Australia, officially the Australian Council of National Trusts (ACNT), is the Australian national peak body for community-based, non-government non-profit organisations committed to promoting and conserving Australia's ...

, which operates it as a museum. The platform which supported the tower is still in place at Margaret Brock Reef as of 2022.

History

The lighthouse was designed by George Wells, and the components made at

Chance Brothers Chance Brothers and Company was a glassworks originally based in Spon Lane, Smethwick, West Midlands (formerly in Staffordshire), in England. It was a leading glass manufacturer and a pioneer of British glassmaking technology. The Chance f ...

Smethwick Smethwick () is an industrial town in Sandwell, West Midlands, England. It lies west of Birmingham city centre. Historically it was in Staffordshire. In 2019, the ward of Smethwick had an estimated population of 15,246, while the wider bu ...

in the West Midlands area of England. The parts were packed up and sent to Australia, and reconstructed at Cape Jaffa. All in all it took three years to build and was opened on 6 January 1872. It was originally built out to sea from Cape Jaffa on the Margaret Brock Reef. One particular shipwreck, the SS Admella was cited at the time as the reason for commissioning the lighthouse. Known as a Wells screw pile, the original structure was held secure by being screwed into the ocean/reefs rocks. It was high and was designed to suit the local conditions. In its original structure, the lighthouse had eight rooms, enough to accommodate two lighthouse keepers and their families with enough stores to last several weeks. The lighthouse used a

lantern which could be seen for a distance up to . The federal government installed an automatic light to the structure in the early 1970s and handed operation to the National Trust of South Australia. After almost 101 years of use, the lighthouse was deactivated in 1973 when a new lighthouse at

Robe A robe is a loose-fitting outer garment. Unlike garments described as capes or cloaks, robes usually have sleeves. The English word ''robe'' derives from Middle English ''robe'' ("garment"), borrowed from Old French ''robe'' ("booty, spoil ...

began operation. The lighthouse was listed on the now-defunct

Register of the National Estate The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heri ...

on 21 March 1978 and on the

South Australian Heritage Register The South Australian Heritage Register, also known as the SA Heritage Register, is a statutory register of historic places in South Australia. It extends legal protection regarding demolition and development under the ''Heritage Places Act 1993' ...

on 24 July 1980. The structure on which the lighthouse tower originally stood still stands as of 2022. It currently hosts a breeding colony of Australasian gannets.

Lighthouse keepers

When the lighthouse was first in service there were three keepers on duty at the lighthouse and one at the short station. The keepers rotated so that they had one month ashore followed by three on the lighthouse. The shore keeper maintained the lighthouse cottages and monitored the radio. Charles Henry West served as a lighthouse keeper at Cape Jaffa Lighthouse during the period 1893-1919, as well as Troubridge Island Lighthouse and South Neptune Island Lighthouse. Prior to this, he was a customs officer at

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...

. At the age of 44, he married Emma Isabella Germein, daughter of Samuel Germein, at Baptist Church Manse,

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater A ...

Visiting

The lighthouse tower was moved to its present location in

in 1976, where it became a museum. It is open during South Australian school holidays. The museum is set up to show how lighthouse keepers and their families lived in the tower structure. There is a log cabin quilt on one of the beds that is on the National Quilt Register. An interactive display telling the tragic story of the 1852 shipwreck of the barque '' Margaret Brock'' was opened in 2016.

Footnotes

References

External links