Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2023L01231:reg:2023:p12
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2023L01231
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 2023 (pt 12/12)
Character Range: 31019–32849

and ropes. The lamp installed was regarded as a 'Piston Pressure Lamp' which fed a four-wick Trinity burner.[20]
The tower was accompanied by an engine room, three cottages for the assistant keepers and Superintendent stationed at the light.[21] Cape Sorell was the last lighthouse to be built by the Tasmanian Government before Commonwealth authorities assumed responsibility for coastal lights in 1915.
Figure 12. Tramline leading to Cape Sorell Light c. 1900 (Digitised item from: W.L. Crowther Library, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office)
  3.6 Lighthouse keeping
Cape Sorell Lighthouse was originally attended by William Jacques and his assistants Carlson and Light. The keepers were required to tend to the light in shifts and maintain the cottages, tower and engine room. A supply vessel would visit each week to replenish the lighthouse's stores, and maintenance technicians could access the site via horse-drawn truck along the wooden rails leading to the lighthouse from Pilot Beach.
A total of three keepers remained stationed on site until 1962 when the lighthouse was converted to diesel-electric operation and the number of keepers reduced. In 1971, the lighthouse was converted to automatic operation. The remaining keepers were withdrawn and the keepers' cottages demolished.
Figure 13. Sorell Light, Macquarie Harbour c. 1910 (Digitised item from: W.L. Crowther Library, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office)

  3.7 Chronology of major events

The following table details key events to have occurred at Cape Sorell Lighthouse over the course of its history.

Date              Event Details
May 1899          Construction of Cape Sorell Lighthouse completed

2 October 1899    Cape Sorell Lighthouse officially opened.[22]

5 September 1912  Lighthouse struck by lightning—tower left relatively undamaged.[23]