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The Woody Island Lighthouses are a pair of heritage-listed lighthouses at Woody Island in the Great Sandy Strait, Hervey Bay, Fraser Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1866 to 1870. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 30 March 2001. == History == The twin, timber lighthouses, and lightkeeper's residence at North Bluff, were constructed in 1866 to designs prepared by the Office of the Colonial Architect, Charles Tiffin. A second residence was constructed at Middle Bluff in 1868.〔 Up until 10 December 1859, the colony of New South Wales extended as far north as Cape York Peninsula. In 1859, the new colony of Queensland acquired over 5000 kilometres of coastline which had few safety features in place, and became responsible for all navigation lights and harbours along this coastline. At the time the only lighthouse which existed was Cape Moreton Light at Cape Moreton by the New South Wales Government in 1857.〔 By 1859, Maryborough, first settled in 1847, was already operating as a port of some importance. The main export was wool from the inland areas. Migrant ships were also coming into Maryborough. Ships coming into Maryborough had to enter through Hervey Bay, an area full of sandbanks, on which ships could easily become stranded. A channel, with a minimum of over five metres of water at low tide, ran down the middle of the Bay, past the east of Woody Island, along Fraser Island and into the Mary River.〔 In 1862, the Queensland government had appointed a Portmaster, Commander George Poynter Heath and had passed the Marine Board Act 1862. GP Heath (1830-1921) was born at Hanworth, in Norfolk, England. Late in 1859 as a lieutenant, he applied for the government post of marine surveyor in the new colony of Queensland and was appointed. In his thirty-three tenure of office in what became the sub-department of harbours, lighthouses and pilots, Heath was responsible for supervising the opening of 13 new ports, establishing 33 lighthouses, 6 lightships and 150 small lights and marking the inner route of the barrier reef. In November 1887 he retired from public service because of ill health and later returned to England.〔 In the two years following the establishment of the Marine Board Act 1862, due to a lack of funds to spend on marine safety, activity concentrated on dealing with pilots and harbour lights, The issue of coastal lights was not taken up until 25 May 1864, when Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly moved that a Select Committee be appointed to inquiry into and report upon the state of the harbours and rivers in the colony. The Committee consisted of Messrs Macalister, Douglas, Sandeman, Cribb, Challinor and Bell and convened for the first time on 27 May 1864. The Committee widened the terms of reference to include the question of the necessity of additional lighthouses on the coast of Australia, within the colony of Queensland.〔 In a "Notice to Mariners" in the Queensland Government Gazette, in 1865, mention was made of the Burrum River which formed part of Hervey Bay, and that, when property beaconed and buoyed, the river would be easy steamers and small craft to navigate. In the same year, orders were sent for two lights for Hervey's Bay, as Hervey Bay was then known. Towers for fourth order, fixed (non-flashing) lights on Woody Island were completed by contract in 1866 and the lanterns were placed and fixed by the pilot's boat crew in 1867. Bringing the lenses and holophotes down from Maryborough and getting them up into the lanterns and finally adjusting them, took around ten days.〔 A call for tenders for the construction of lighthouses and a lightkeeper's cottage on Woody Island was advertised in the Maryborough Chronicle on 26 May 1866. Plans and specifications for the buildings were available in the Harbor Office in Maryborough. It is likely that the design for the lighthouses and the original lightkeeper's cottage at North Bluff was prepared by the Office of the Colonial Architect, Charles Tiffin. The Office prepared the specifications for the cottage at Middle Bluff two years later (1868). The plans were likely to have been overseen by Robert Ferguson. Ferguson was employed by Tiffin as a temporary foreman of works from 1864-1870, where, in 1867, wrote specifications for and oversaw construction of the lighthouses at Bustard Head and Sandy Cape.〔 John Simpson was appointed as the first lightkeeper of Woody Island and the lighthouses became operational on 1 October 1867. The two lights were considered as one unit, twin lights that lined up with each other. In the Government Gazette in 1867, Portmaster, GP Heath described how the lights operated together in order to guide vessels through Hervey Bay:〔 When entering Hervey's Bay, steer so as to pass one or two miles of the Fairway Buoy, until the two lights on Woody Island are visible, and a brought into line. Steer with the lights in one ...until the two lights are almost on the same level ... keep a look-out for the red buoy ... On sighting the buoy, steer ... (given ) ... for the red buoy off the Woody Island Spit ... When the lights are seen to become red at the same time, a vessel is about one-third of distance from the spit across the channel ... From thence, steer to pass ... as usual ... until the high light (Bluff light ) is obscured ... Steer SSW until the light again opens out as a bright light ... from which a course must be ... shaped for the river heads.. Initially, a keeper's house was built at North Bluff. The main light was positioned south at Middle Bluff, however, keeper's quarters were not constructed at Middle Bluff until 1868. Both lights had signal masts and a storage shed was built on the beach at Middle Bluff, on the eastern side of the island, to store kerosene for the lighthouse along with other provisions.〔 The lamps and burners were the first of that size and description ever constructed for petroleum oil, and burnt with great certainty and less variation of flame than other petroleum burners. The Portmaster was concerned, however, as to whether he was justified in having only one lightkeeper on the island, considering its nearness to Fraser Island. The lights were two nautical miles apart, over a bad road, and the keeper, while at one light, left his family unprotected near the other lighthouse. Also, in the case of sudden illness, there was no person able to light the distant light, which might have led to very serious results.〔 The issue regarding the safety of the lightkeeper and his family was resolved in 1868, when an assistant lightkeeper was stationed at the upper lighthouse (North Bluff) and a house built nearby. The contract for the cottage for the assistant lightkeeper went to Messrs Pawson and Humberstone for £127, and was built from drawings and specifications prepared by the Office of the Colonial Architect, Charles Tiffin. The telegraph line was completed to Woody Island about 1870, thus allowing the lightkeeper at the lower lights to communicate the approach of vessels from the northward, and the assistant, the approach of those from the southward.〔 The Portmaster proposed a line of telegraph between Woody Island and Maryborough, not only on account of any accident which might happen to the lights or lightkeeper, and as an instalment of the line which must eventually be carried on to Sandy Cape when the lighthouse was established there, but as a consequence to vessels arriving in Hervey Bay, or passing through the Great Sandy Strait, and wishing to communicate with Maryborough or any other station without going the thirty miles up the river and back again unnecessarily.〔 In 1870, the telegraph line was established and Woody Island was connected to the mainland and Maryborough. The line crossed underwater from Urangan and was carried on iron poles imported from England up to the Middle Bluff lighthouse. In 1903, the telegraph line was connected to the Sandy Cape Lightstation from the Middle Bluff light. The line was carried on iron poles down to the eastern shore of the Island to a point known as Jefferies Beach, where the cable again went underwater to Fraser Island.〔 In 1871, Woody Island was listed as a reserve for the Queensland Acclimatisation Society. This reserve was in place until 1959. During their time of association on the Island, the Society introduced several pairs of rabbits in 1866. Rabbits remained on Woody Island until 1952 when myxomatosis was carried to the island via mosquitoes and the rabbit population was killed off. Also, in 1871, one of the lightkeepers, Mr Sheridan, introduced 200 coconut trees to Woody Island, of only one of which has survived.〔 The first lightkeeper, John Simpson, remained at Woody Island until 1870, when he was transferred to the Sandy Cape Lightstation. Simpson's replacement was Peter Hardie, lightkeeper, who remained on Woody Island until 1897. In 1883, Hardie's daughter, Sarah May Hardie, died of lung congestion and was buried south of North Bluff. It is thought that a number of other unmarked graves are located in the area.〔 During the period when the lighthouses were operational, Woody Island was predominantly cleared of vegetation, this enabled a clear view to the lights and the signal masts from the mainland. Today, regrowth covers much of Woody Island.〔 The North Bluff light was converted to an unwatched automatic light on 21 June 1937 running on gas. The keeper was no longer employed but remained in the house. The North Bluff Lighthouse was closed on 17 June 1959, at the same time, the Middle Bluff Lighthouse was automated, running on gas. In April 1960, Woody Island was gazetted as a national park. The gazettal of Little Woody Island as a national park followed in February 1977.〔 Following the automation of the Middle Bluff Lighthouse in 1959, the keepers' residences at Middle and North Bluff were demolished during the 1960s. In 1985, Middle Bluff Lighthouse was converted to solar power, only to be closed two years later in 1987.〔 Some maintenance and conservation work has been undertaken in the last few years by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, particularly to the Middle Bluff Lighthouse. With reasonably easy access to Woody Island from nearby Hervey Bay, school and other tour groups are regular visitors to the island.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Woody Island Lighthouses」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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