Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2014L00095:body:0:p13
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2014L00095
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 32267–35050

to form a hemispherical dome. At the peak of the roof was a weatherproof vent for the lamp smoke to escape. All of these parts were locally designed and made in Queensland.

The optical apparatus was mounted inside the lantern room, and was manufactured by Chance Brothers & Company, lighthouse engineers, in their factory at Smethwick near Birmingham, United Kingdom. The apparatus consisted of the rotating assembly of lenses and prisms, the kerosene lamp at its centre with a number of circular concentric wicks, and the clockwork to rotate the lens assembly.

3.4. A manned lightstation
Dent Island was occupied and used by Aboriginal people over many thousands of years and was also occupied and used by the holders of various licences and leases, as is outlined in Section 4.3, but for long periods the lightkeepers and their families were the only people on the island.  The lighstation was manned between 1879–1987.

Lightstations were staffed by men who were selected for their competence and reliability. It was expected that they would be married, and houses were provided so that their wives (and children, if they had any, as many did) would have appropriate accommodation. Larger lighthouses, like Sandy Cape on Fraser Island, had three keepers and a sufficient number of children to justify the appointment of a school teacher. At Dent Island the task of teaching children probably fell to their parents. The isolation of life at the station is poignantly illustrated by the presence of children's graves at the station. One of these is marked with a plaque recording the death of Carrie Biss on 3 April 1885 at the age of 3½ years. Caroline's death certificate records the cause of death as convulsions, and she was buried by her father, Head Lightkeeper Edwin Biss, and Assistant Lightkeeper G R Bellairs (Blackwood 1997).

Figure 6 — Dent Island Lighthouse, 1917

Photograph of the tower, looking southward. Note the managed landscape, with the ground cleared around the tower and the native hoop pines kept clear so that the light remains clearly visible from the passage. As was normal during daylight hours, canvas curtains have been hung in the lantern house, so that the lens cannot concentrate the light from the sun and damage the lamp. (Source: AMSA).

3.4.1 Upgrading the lighthouse

When the Australian colonies federated in 1901 it was agreed that coastal lighthouses should become a Commonwealth responsibility, with states continuing to provide harbour lights. The Commonwealth engaged Commander C R W Brewis, a retired British naval surveyor, to report on the condition of existing lights and to recommend improvements. His reports set a course for the newly established Commonwealth Lighthouse Service that took over existing lighthouses in 1915.