Vlamingh Head Western Australia, Australia
By dezzabills on 28-Jun-19. Waypoint GA13871

The first recorded sighting of this part of Australia was by the Dutch sailor Haevik Claezoon van Hillegom in 1618, the headland was then charted by his countryman Willem de Vlamingh in 1696 and in 1801 Nicolas Baudin named the area Cape Murat.

The north west coast of Australia had been regarded as dangerous for many years, this coastline is one of the most hazardous stretches of coast in the world and the building of a lighthouse on this coast had long been considered. In 1907 a board of enquiry was set up and the captains of numerous coastal vessels were questioned to obtain their views on the best sites to build lighthouses on. Out of the four locations were selected at where lighthouses would be built in the subsequent two years was made. However, the wreck of the Mildura off the North West Cape in 1907 led to Vlamingh Head, a site which had had been proposed by a number of ships' masters to the Board of Enquiry but had not gained sufficient support. being recommended as the fifth lighthouse along this stretch of coast and in 1909 The Harbour and Lights Department announced that a lighthouse was to be constructed at Vlamingh Head. The lighthouse started operations on 10 November 1912 with a light that could be seen for up to 22 nautical miles (40.7km). 

In the Second World War the North West Cape was an important refuelling depot for US Navy ships and an airbase was developed at Learmonth which led to a radar station being built near the lighthouse. In 1953 a cyclone caused considerable damage to both the airbase and the radar station and caused extensive damage to the lighthouse and keepers' quarters, with the keepers themselves did much of the repair work themselves. 

The Radar Tower had deteriorated to such an extent that it could not be restored therefore a replica structure was constructed and installed on site in February 2001.

The Lighthouse operated from the Vlaming Head site for over 60 years but in 1969 a light was mounted on tower 11 at the US Naval Communications VLF site at Point Murat. To this day this light still flashes a warning to seafarers to "beware of the treacherous coastline of the North West Cape".

History courtesy Wikipedia:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlamingh_Head_Lighthouse

You are looking for a small tube just off to the edge of the car park. No need to trample through lots of spinifex.

Enjoy the commanding views form here and maybe take in a sunrise or sunset whilst here. 

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