Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2020L01271:front:0:p10
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2020L01271
Segment Type: other
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Character Range: 25664–28742

lamp by Chance Brothers

 Figure 12. Dioptric lens on display at Narooma

  2  Searle. G, First Order: Australia's Highway of Lighthouses, (2013). Page 34

 In 1912, Gustaf Dalén, a Swedish engineer, was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for a series of inventions relating to acetylene-powered navigation lights. Dalén's system included the sun valve,
 the mixer, the flasher, and the cylinder containing compressed acetylene. Due to their efficiency and reliability, Dalén's inventions led to the gradual demanning of lighthouses. Acetylene was quickly adopted by the Commonwealth Lighthouse Service from 1915 onwards.

 Large dioptric lenses, such as that shown in Figure 12, gradually decreased in popularity due to cost and the move towards unmanned automatic lighthouses. By the early 1900s, Australia had stopped ordering these lenses with the last installed at Eclipse Island in Western Australia in 1927.
 Smaller Fresnel lenses continued to be produced and installed until the 1970s when plastic lanterns, still utilising Fresnel's technology, were favoured instead. Acetylene remained in use until it was finally phased out in the 1990s.

 In current day, Australian lighthouses are lit and extinguished automatically using mains power, diesel generators, and solar-voltaic systems.

3.2             The Commonwealth lighthouse service

 When the Australian colonies federated in 1901, it was decided that the new Commonwealth Government would be responsible for coastal
 lighthouses. This included only the major lights used by vessels travelling from port to port, not the minor lights used for navigation within harbours and rivers. There was a delay before this new arrangement came into effect and the existing lights continued to be operated by the states.

 Since 1915, various Commonwealth departments have managed lighthouses. AMSA, established under the Australian Maritime  Safety  Authority Act 1990, is now responsible for operating
 Commonwealth lighthouses and other marine aids
 to navigation, along with its other functions.

 Figure 13. Dalén's system – sunvalve, mixer, flasher and cylinder

     3.3            New South Wales lighthouse management

 The table below details the authorities of NSW
 lighthouse management from 1915 to  present.

3.4            Cape Byron: a history

Indigenous presence

 Prior to European occupation, the Bundjalung  people (containing the subgroups of Arakwal and Galibal) claimed the coastal lands around Cape Byron (regarded by custodians as 'Walgun') as their tribal territories.

 The rich surrounding nature reserve was a key area for hunting and gathering, and also as a camping site 4. Various shell middens have been identified in the area with one site (4-5-0037, the pippi midden) regarded as the oldest dated foredune shell midden on the north coast of NSW with a date estimate of 1440+/- 70 BP.

 Further consultation with traditional stakeholders will be undertaken to gain a greater understanding of Cape Byron's history. This plan will be updated in future versions to