Location:

North Reef, a 5.6 square kilometres (2.2 sq mi) planar reef, about 120 kilometres northeast of Gladstone, it is part of the Capricorn group. I didn’t manage to get out there and the commentary below are extracts from other sources. Hopefully one day I will be able to visit these more inaccessible lighthouses by sea.

GPS: Lat: 23° 11’ S : Long: 151° 54’ E

First Lit: 1878 (automated 1978, major refurbishment 2011)

Tower height: 35′ (24m).

Original Lens: 3rd Order Chance Bros. Dioptric

Range: 17nml (31km)

Characteristic: Two white flashes every fifteen seconds: [Fl W2 15s]

History:

The recommendation to establish a lighthouse on North Reef was made by a select parliamentary committee in 1864. The site was then a small sandbank on a coral reef. Tenders were called in January 1876, and the winning offer was for £7,964 by Walker and Company of Maryborough. Construction was to be completed in by July 1877 but delays, first in approval of the money, and then in construction, delayed the completion until November 1878.

The Lighthouse:

The lighthouse was constructed on a migratory patch of sand inside a fringing coral reef, which over the years disappeared and reappeared, as sand was washed away and accumulated, and is now a vegetated sandy island. Its construction is unique, having a hollow concrete base that both gives it resistance to the shifting nature of the sandbar and serves as a freshwater tank. As such, it is considered one of the major achievement in Australian lighthouse construction. It is also notable in that due to the harsh conditions, only bachelors were allowed to serve as lighthouse keepers. At 24 metres (79 ft) it is also the tallest of Queensland’s timber-framed iron clad lighthouses.

The base of the tower, 13 metres (43 ft) in diameter and 4.6 metres (15 ft) high, was constructed of bolted cast iron segments. Both the tower and the residence were constructed of timber frame, clad in galvanised iron. The original optical apparatus was a second order Chance Bros. lens.^[5]

The lighthouse keepers’ residence surrounds the base of the tower. They comprise a ring of eight rooms with three bedrooms, two sitting rooms, two kitchens, and a storeroom. They are constructed of a timber frame with a galvanised iron roof. The external walls are covered with corrugated galvanised iron sheets.^[

Conditions at the lighthouse were harsh. The location is remote, the quarters cramped, and the shifting sands sometimes left the lighthouse surrounded by water. The lighthouse keepers chosen were therefore single, unmarried men.

The light source was upgraded twice, in 1923 and in 1929.^[4] In 1977 the light was converted to electricity and it was automated in January 1978

North Reef is operated by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA).