Point Danger Light, also known as the Captain Cook Memorial Light, is an active lighthouse located on Point Danger, a

headland A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, Joh ...

between

Coolangatta Coolangatta is a coastal suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. It is the Gold Coast's southernmost suburb and it borders New South Wales. In the , Coolangatta had a population of 5,948 people. Geography Coolangatta and i ...

and

Tweed Heads Tweed Heads is a town in New South Wales. It is located on the Tweed River in north-eastern New South Wales, Australia, in Tweed Shire, next to the border with Queensland and adjacent to its "twin town" of Coolangatta, which is a suburb of the ...

, marking the border between

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

and

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia. It lays claim to be the first lighthouse in the world to experiment with

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The firs ...

as a light source.

History

Point Danger Light was the third of a group of seven

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most ...

towers erected between 1964 and 1979 in Queensland, in order of erection Cape Capricorn Light, New Caloundra Light, itself, New Burnett Heads Light,

Fitzroy Island Light Fitzroy Island Light is an inactive lighthouse on Fitzroy Island, a continental island southeast of Cairns, Queensland, Australia. It was only active between 1973 and 1992 but, together with Little Fitzroy Island Light, there has been a ligh ...

Point Cartwright Light Point Cartwright Light is an active lighthouse located on Point Cartwright, a point near the mouth of the Mooloolah River, in Mooloolaba, Queensland, Australia. It marks the entrance to the North West Channel, a deep water channel into Mor ...

and Archer Point Light. Constructed in 1971, it commemorates the bicentennial of

Captain Cook James Cook (7 November 1728Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

's first voyage, and specifically the voyage along the east coast of Australia in 1770. It was first exhibited on 18 April 1971. The original light source was an experimental laser-based light, and the lighthouse may very well be the first in the world to experiment with this light source. However, the experiment failed, and the light source was replaced in 1975 by a regular

electric lamp An electric light, lamp, or light bulb is an electrical component that produces light. It is the most common form of artificial lighting. Lamps usually have a base made of ceramic, metal, glass, or plastic, which secures the lamp in the so ...

Current display

The

light characteristic A light characteristic is all of the properties that make a particular navigational light identifiable. Graphical and textual descriptions of navigational light sequences and colours are displayed on nautical charts and in Light Lists with the ch ...

shown is two white flashes every ten seconds (Fl.(2)W. 10s), visible at 170°-330°''List of Lights''. for . The light source is an electric lamp, fed by a

battery Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...

float charged from the

mains electricity Mains electricity or utility power, power grid, domestic power, and wall power, or in some parts of Canada as hydro, is a general-purpose Alternating current, alternating-current (AC) electric power supply. It is the form of electrical power t ...

Structures

The lighthouse is constructed of four concrete columns, marked with the four

cardinal direction The four cardinal directions, or cardinal points, are the four main compass directions: north, east, south, and west, commonly denoted by their initials N, E, S, and W respectively. Relative to north, the directions east, south, and west are a ...

s, and a

bronze sculpture Bronze is the most popular metal for cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply "a bronze". It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs, and small statuettes and figurines, as well as bronze elemen ...

hung between the columns. Also, near-by is a one-story building housing the Marine Rescue NSW Point Danger station.

Site operation and visiting

The light is operated by

Transport for NSW Transport for NSW, sometimes abbreviated to TfNSW, and pronounced as Transport for New South Wales, is an List of New South Wales government agencies, agency of the Government of New South Wales, New South Wales Government established on 1 Novem ...

. The site is accessible, but the tower is closed to the public.

Notes

References