Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L01613:front:0:p13
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L01613
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 34527–37295

min. south; long. 145deg. 43min. 30sec. east (approximate). The tower is 50 ft. in height from the base of the lantern and is built of red bricks, and left in the natural colour. It will be a 'fixed white light,' dioptric, of the second order, visible all round seaward between the bearings of S. 61deg. E. round by N. to N. 66deg. W.; and will be elevated about 390ft. above the sea. It will be seen for a distance of 27 miles (nautical) in clear weather, and at lesser distances, according to the state of the atmosphere. The bearings are magnetic and seaward.[25]

The light was a 2nd Order Chance Bros. Catadioptric 700 mm focal radius lens, and was first exhibited on 1 August 1888.[26]

  3.6 Lighthouse keeping
Lighthouse keeping was observed to be a valuable profession within local communities. Keepers would operate on shifts, taking it in turns to tend to the light through the night and watch for distressed vessels. It was often an isolating ordeal with very little contact with the surrounding communities. Stationed on-site within the keepers' cottages, those employed at Table Cape were at least spared from total isolation as the region's population had grown spectacularly over the course of the 19th century. However, life at the lighthouse was not without tragedy.
On 17 August 1888, just over two weeks following the lighthouse's opening, the Head Lightkeeper's infant son passed away. The lighthouse's log book for that devastating day read:
    Wind south. A strong breeze and misty weather. Employed in the lighthouse and cleaning up about station. At 5.10 p.m. Bertie Jackson, son of the head lightkeeper, departed this life aged one year and two months.[27]
Following advice from the undertaker, the family chose to have Bertie buried on-site. The grave was maintained and remains viewable to passers-by with a headstone reading:
Bertram Jackson
Died – 17th Aug 1888
Infant son of Mary and Robert Jackson
Past Lighthouse Keepers
Aged 1 yr 2 mths 1888

14 years later in March of 1902, the young son of Assistant Lightkeeper Arthur King died after falling from the cliff edge by the lighthouse.[28]
In 1920, the light was converted to automated operation and the keepers were withdrawn sometime after. The keepers' cottages were left to deteriorate until their demolition in 1926.[29]
Figure 14. Table Cape Lighthouse Courtesy of the National Archives of Australia: A1200, L10744 (© Commonwealth of Australia, National Archives of Australia)
  3.7 Chronology of major events
The following table details the timeline of major events to have occurred at Table Cape Lighthouse.
Date           Event
1 Aug 1888     Light first exhibited from Table Cape Lighthouse.[30]

17 Aug 1888    Head Lightkeeper's baby passes away shortly after being posted