Rottnest Island Lighthouse and Signal Station - Historic Engineering Marker #37 Rottnest Island, Western Australia, Australia
By Team MavEtJu on 20-Oct-15. Waypoint GA7666

Rottnest Island Lighthouse and Signal Station - Historic Engineering Marker #37

The Rottnest Island Lighthouse and Signal Station is located on one of the earliest parts of Australia discovered by Europeans. Three hundred years ago this year, in 1696, the Dutch navigator Vlarningh named and charted Rottnest Island and the Swan River mouth. Earlier, in 1659, Dutch explorer Captain Valkersen reported the existence of the Island.

The Station has important associations with shipping in Western Australia, the development of the Port of Fremantle, and the growth of Perth as the capital city of the State. The light, together with a light at Arthur Heed Fremantle, was lit twenty two years after the formation of the colony in 1829. They were preceded by only eight other lights on the Australian coast constructed between 1818 and 1848.

The site of the lighthouse was selected by the State's first Surveyor General, John Septimus Roe and Officers of the HMS Beagle sailing on her third voyage of discovery. The original lighthouse was constructed by native prisoners under the superintendence of Henry Vincent. the builder being Bayley Maycock. The present lighthouse was built by Messrs Parker and Rhodes under contract to the State Public Works.

Signalling and lookout activity commenced on the site In 1848 and its role in shipping control continued until 1949, when radio and radar overcame the distance problems of signalling. When the signal station was located at Bathurst Point prior to 1904, the station was included in the list of signal stations which was published by Lloyds to be used by owners to communicate to their vessels. With this, it joined the other two Lloyd's reporting stations on the west coast at Breaksea Island, Albany and Cape Leeuwin.

Contents of the plaque:

ROTTNEST ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE AND SIGNAL STATION

In 1851. Western Australia's first lighthouse was erected on this 1848 Signal Station Site. It incorporated a revolving catoptric light designed by assistant surveyor Augustus Gregory and built by local inventor Alfred Carson. In 1896, contractors Parker & Rhodes, directed by Western Australia's Engineer-In-Chief, CV O'Connor, built this second lighthouse, embodying a 45,000 candle power revolving first order dioptrIc light. These improved maritime navigational and signalling facilities were developed by Australian engineers providing a safer shipping passage to Fremantle.

Dedicated by The Institution of Engineers, Australia 1996

When logging this virtual, please add a photo of yourself or your GPSr at the plaque.

For more information, please see this page at the Heritage Register at the Engineers Australia website: https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/portal/heritage/rottnest-island-lighthouse-and-signal-station-1848-1896