page_title: North Reef Light
section_title: Structure
hierarchical_section_title: North Reef Light / Structure
caption_attribution_description: English: North Reef Lighthouse, Queensland - Lighthouse keeper
context_page_description: North Reef Light is an active lighthouse located on North Reef, a 5.6 square kilometres planar reef, about 120 kilometres northeast of Gladstone, Queensland, Australia in the Capricorn and Bunker Group. The lighthouse was constructed on a migratory patch of sand inside a fringing coral reef, which over the years disappeared and reappeared, as sand was washed away and accumulated, and is now a vegetated sandy island. Its construction is unique, having a hollow concrete base that both gives it resistance to the shifting nature of the sandbar and serves as a freshwater tank. As such, it is considered one of the major achievement in Australian lighthouse construction. It is also notable in that due to the harsh conditions, only bachelors were allowed to serve as lighthouse keepers. At 24 metres it is also the tallest of Queensland's timber-framed iron clad lighthouses.
context_section_description: As mentioned above, the lighthouse base is made of bolted cast iron segments, 13 metres (43 ft) in diameter and 4.6 metres (15 ft) high. The tower is 18 metres (59 ft) from the base to the lantern, conical in shape, with four intermediate floor levels. It is built of an internal timber frame, clad with galvanised wrought iron plates, painted white. On top of the tower is a Chance Brothers 10 feet 9 inches (3.28 m) diameter lantern, housing the VRB-25 beacon. The dome of the lantern is painted red.
  The lighthouse keepers' residence surrounds the base of the tower. They comprise a ring of eight rooms with three bedrooms, 
  two sitting rooms, two kitchens, and a storeroom. They are constructed of a timber frame with a galvanised iron roof. The external walls are covered with corrugated galvanised iron sheets.
caption: A 1949 photo of the lighthouse
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