Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00163:reg:2023:p13
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00163
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 2023 (pt 13/14)
Character Range: 34000–36999

and landed safely at Seal Rocks bay by July 1875.[xxvii]

Construction of the keepers' cottages and various outbuildings required the headland to be cut into and the construction of stone retaining walls in order to provide the cottages with shelter. The fill removed from these works was allegedly used to level the site of the tower.[xxviii]
For the duration of the works, a construction camp consisting of a barracks, contractor's office, kitchen office store and school was built along the road to Myall Lake.[xxix]

The construction of the lighthouse was officially complete by 29 October 1875.
Figure 12. Design plan of Sugarloaf Point Lighthouse, 1874. Courtesy of the National Archives of Australia. NAA: A9568, 1/16/11 (© Commonwealth of Australia, National Archives of Australia)

Equipment when built
Sugarloaf Point Lighthouse was officially lit on 1st December 1875, the first Barnet-designed lighthouse to be completed.[xxx] The lighthouse consisted of two stories approximately 21 feet 6 inches above the ground floor and 11 feet in diameter on the inside. With asphalted ground and intermediate floors, and an iron lantern floor, the tower was built of brick and cemented inside and out.
Barnet's plans had been followed meticulously, including the installation of the unique external stairs. The balcony, consisting of sixteen bluestones, also incorporated what would become a classic feature of Barnet's lighthouses: the outward curved gunmetal balustrades.[xxxi]

The 1st order lens with a white flashing light had a recorded intensity of 50,000 candelas. The green subsidiary light located below the lantern room lit the rocky outcrops below, covering approximately three miles with an arc of sixty degrees and intensity of 150 candelas.[xxxii]

The keepers' cottages stood on the headland's southern side, the Head Keeper's cottage consisting of five rooms including a pantry, detached kitchen and water closet. The Assistant Keeper's cottages were semi-detached, three-roomed residences with a store, a detached kitchen and water closet.

  3.6 Lighthouse keeping

The first head keeper to be stationed at Sugarloaf Point was Henry Hoadley, and his assistants Daniel Watson and George Morris. Lightkeepers were tasked with a number of duties including: conservation of the surrounding landscape, coastal and meteorology surveillance, and search and rescue efforts.[xxxiii]

Keepers and their families were relatively isolated as the road to Sugarloaf Point was largely inaccessible. Once telegraph communications to the lighthouse were established in March 1877 however, a proper road was constructed from Bulahdelah out to the lighthouse.[xxxiv]

The jetty built during the construction of the lighthouse served as a lifeline to the keepers, as it enabled supplies to be delivered via boat, and also permitted travellers and school teachers to access to region.

As the decades progressed and domestic travel grew, tourists visited the lightstation and a small fishing village