Icon of the Coast: Exploring Cape St George Lighthouse
Channel: The Holiday Hunter
Date: 2023-09-09

The Cape St George Lighthouse ruins stand as the most significant European site within the park. Today, this lighthouse serves as the prime location for observing the majestic whale migration and return. 

Designed by the esteemed colonial architect, Alexander Dawson, and constructed in 1860, this three-story lighthouse was meticulously built using sandstone blocks sourced from the nearby Jervis Bay village. Soaring to a height of 61 feet (18.5m), the tower boasted eight spacious rooms at ground level. The flooring consisted of timber, while cast iron girders supported a roof adorned with stone flagging, covered in asphalt.

Transporting supplies to the lighthouse was always a challenging endeavour, with the nearest landing place situated over 4 killometres away at Murrays Beach. Horses were indispensable for delivering mail and provisions, as well as transporting children to and from school. However, maintaining a horse permanently proved arduous due to the scarcity of grass for feed. In contrast, goats thrived in this terrain and were kept for milking, providing a source of meat and bait for catching sharks.

Between 1860 and 1877, up to 15 individuals, including the lighthouse keeper, two under-keepers, and their families, resided within the confines of this eight-room complex. The lighthouse also served as a storage facility for oil and supplies, resulting in relatively cramped and uncomfortable living conditions. In 1877, recognizing the need for improvement, a seven-room weatherboard cottage was constructed for the head keeper near the stables.

The kitchen and laundry building, believed to have been erected around 1865, served as a storehouse for provisions, a wash house, and an oven, complete with a boiling copper for the establishment. This addition provided much-needed space, as the original lighthouse building had previously accommodated everything, including living quarters for the three lightkeepers' families.

Whilst it is a picturesque location today, the lighthouse has a fascinating and grisly history of death and disaster:
• In 1867, Isabella Jane Lee, the daughter of the principal lightkeeper from 1863 to 1873, died of typhus fever, a rare bacterial infection spread usually by parasites.

• In 1882, another resident, 13-year-old George Gibson, died from pleurisy. Pleurisy results in the inflammation of tissue surrounding the lungs and causes pain when breathing.

• Typhoid struck again in 1885, killing Florence Bailey, the 11-year-old daughter of the third assistant lightkeeper. Her father, Edward Bailey, supplemented his income by fishing for sharks on the rocks below the lighthouse. In 1895, he was washed from the rocks. Entangled in his lines in heavy seas, he was taken by sharks as his son watched in horror.

• Francis Henry Hammer, the son of Mary Hammer (a single woman who lived at the lighthouse) had a habit of pushing large rocks over the cliff edge to amuse himself. However, he tragically met his end when he either toppled over or lost his footing when part of the cliff collapsed. He was only nine or ten years old.

• William Markham, the assistant lightkeeper from about 1878-1883, was kicked in the head by a horse and died before he reached Nowra Hospital.

• In 1887, Kate Gibson (the principal lightkeeper’s teenage daughter), tripped while skylarking with a loaded firearm. The gun discharged, striking her friend Harriet Parker (the assistant lightkeeper’s daughter) in the back of the skull, killing her instantly. Her gravesite can be found in the Green Patch camping area.


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