Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2014L00095:body:0:p3
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2014L00095
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 6030–8933

Island Lightstation was placed on the Commonwealth Heritage List in 2004. It is important for the evidence it shows of the historical development of maritime aids to navigation in Australia. The lighthouse, first lit in 1879, demonstrates a rare construction method used only in Queensland colonial lighthouses.

The lightstation is jointly managed by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) through the joint Field Management Program, and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), and is included on the Commonwealth Heritage List.

The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 requires that each Commonwealth agency that owns or controls a Commonwealth Heritage listed place must make a written management plan to protect and manage the Commonwealth Heritage values of the place.

This Dent Island Lightstation Heritage Management Plan describes the heritage values of this Commonwealth Heritage place, sets out the obligations that arise from those values, and proposes measures to ensure that those values are managed and protected.

This heritage management plan was written and adopted by the GBRMPA and AMSA, the two Commonwealth agencies responsible for the lightstation.

Figure 1 — Dent Island Lightstation, March 2013 (Image: Hamilton Island Enterprises)

Executive summary

Dent Island Lightstation was included in the Commonwealth Heritage List in 2004 because it demonstrates the historical pattern of development of coastal aids to navigation in colonial Queensland, and because it is a characteristic example of its type.

The lighthouse, erected on the island in 1879, was one of a series of 12 lighthouse towers of a distinctive type, built between 1873 and 1890. These timber-framed towers clad with riveted iron were designed by officers of the Queensland colonial government, to meet the particular needs of the colony, in a form that was not used anywhere else in the world. Near the lighthouse tower are two houses, a workshop, a derrick crane, a winch house, a trolley way, fowl house, and the grounds in which they sit together; these elements make up the Dent Island Lightstation.

The lightstation is about 18 km from Shute Harbour, on the south-western side of Dent Island, in the Whitsunday Region of the Great Barrier Reef. Dent Island is within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and World Heritage Area. The southern part of the island is held on behalf of the Commonwealth of Australia by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA).  The lighthouse is a working aid to navigation that remains the property of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA).

This heritage management plan is concerned mainly with the lightstation, but also addresses the management of the surrounding land which forms the visual setting of the lightstation. The plan is intended to