page_title: Bustard Head Light
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Bustard Head Light / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Lighthouse keeper, M. J. Rooksley at Bustard Head, Queensland, 1902
context_page_description: Bustard Head Light is an active lighthouse located on the southeast tip of Bustard Head, a headland, about 20 kilometres northwest of Seventeen Seventy, in the Australian state of Queensland, within the Eurimbula National Park and locality of Eurimbula. Built in 1868, it is the second-oldest lightstation in the state, following Cape Moreton Light, and the first to be built in Queensland after its formation in 1859. It is also one of the first in Australia to be constructed using bolted prefabricated segments of cast iron, and one of only two such lighthouses in Queensland, the other being its sibling, Sandy Cape Light. It serves as the central relay for Dent Island Light, Pine Islet Light and Lady Elliot Island Light and as the radio check post for Cape Capricorn Light, Sandy Cape Light and Double Island Point Light.
  Bustard Head was named by Captain James Cook in 1770, in honour of a bustard which was shot and eaten by the landing party at the location.
context_section_description: The Government of Queensland was formed in 1859. In 1862, the Queensland government appointed the first Portmaster, Commander George Poynter Heath. However, it was only in 1864 that two committees were appointed to deal with the issue of coastal lighthouses. One of the locations believed by these committees to require a lighthouse was Bustard Head. In practice, Bustard head became the first to be constructed by the new government. Orders for the tower and the lantern were placed in 1865, with Hennet, Spinks and Company of Bridgwater, England and Chance Brothers of Birmingham, England, respectively. Both orders shipped to Brisbane in April 1867, and a construction tender was awarded to W. P. Clark in August 1867, for erecting the lighthouse and building the other buildings required for the station. Though the contract stated six months of construction, actual work took ten months, and the light was first lit on 29 June 1868. W. P. Clark was to later construct Double Island Point Light (1884), Pine Islet Light (1885), Low Isles Light (1877) and to start the construction of Cape Cleveland Light and Dent Island Light (1878).
  In May 1932 the original cottages were destroyed in fire. In 1935 the stairs which were originally outside the tower were relocated within the tower. The lighthouse was automated during 1985–86, and finally de-manned in 1986, leaving it to neglect and vandalism for the next 16 years. In 2001 the Bustard Head Lighthouse Association, a volunteer organisation led by Stuart Buchanan, obtained a twenty-year lease on the premises and started restoring it using funds from a federal grant, local businesses and self-funding. The station was fully restored, and it is now managed by the association.
caption: Lighthouse keeper, M. J. Rooksley in front of the lighthouse and the original cottages, 1902
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