Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00967:reg:1965:p1
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00967
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 1965 (pt 1/2)
Character Range: 35246–38229

1965               New generator room built.

1988-1989          Radio beacon discontinued.

Nov 2011           Lighthouse 'officially' opened by former Governor-General Quentin Bryce.

Figure 12. Cape Wickham Lightstation prior to demolition of cottages, 1917. Image courtesy of the National Archives of Australia. NAA: A6247, B10/2 (© Commonwealth of Australia, National Archives of Australia)
  3.7 Changes and conservation over time

Owing to alterations in lighthouse fabric and technology over the course of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, Cape Wickham Lighthouse has undergone a number of changes.

The Brewis Report
Commander CRW Brewis, retired naval surveyor was commissioned in 1911 by the Commonwealth Government to report on the condition of existing lights and to recommend any additional ones. Brewis visited every lighthouse in Australia between June and December 1912 and produced a series of reports published in their final form in March 1913. These reports were the basis for future decisions made in relation to the towers' capabilities.[26]
The recommendations made for the Cape Wickham Light included:
       * discontinuing the signal station
       * changing the light's character from fixed to occulting
       * installing an 85mm incandescent mantle, and increasing the light's power to 35,000 candlepower.

Cape Wickham (King Island).
(22 miles from Currie Harbour, by road.)
Lat. 39º 36' S., Long. 143º 57' E., Chart No. 404.- Established in the year 1861.
Lloyd's Signal Station. Not connected by telephone.
Character.- One white, fixed apparatus, 1st Order, dioptric. Candle-power, 7500.
    Granite tower, 145 feet. Height of focal plane, 280 feet above high water. Visible, in clear weather, 24 nautical miles, from N. 22º E., through east, to N. 76º W.
    Condition and State of Efficiency.- The light is situated 22 miles by road from Currie Harbour, the township of King Island. There are farms near the light-house so the position is not isolated.
    The light-house, tower, and apparatus are in a good state of preservation. The dwellings require repairs, and renewals to fences are necessary. Three light-keepers are stationed here.
RECOMMENDED.-
      (a)    As reefs extend for a distance of 4 ½ miles to seaward, the tides being very treacherous, setting strongly towards King Island, the Signal Station be discontinued. Vessels should give this locality a wide berth and not be encouraged to approach within signalling distance.
Caution.- Extract from the Admiralty Sailing Directions, Australia, Vol. I., page 410, referring to the Report by the Light-house Commissioners appointed by the State
Government in the year 1859:- "In advising the erection of a light-house in the neighbourhood of Cape Wickham, the Commissioners wish to guard themselves from affording the public any reasonable supposition that this light can be at all considered in a position of a great highway light for the navigation of Bass Strait; and the light