Norah Head Lightstation Precinct

About

Norah Head Lightstation Precinct is a heritage-listed former lighthouse precinct located at Bush Street, Norah Head in the Central Coast local government area of New South Wales, Australia. The Norah Head lighthouse and associated buildings were designed by Cecil W. Darley and built in 1903. The precinct was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 13 April 2007.

In the early years of European settlement all ships were bound for Port Jackson but little effort was made to guide them safely into port. In January 1793 a light was used for the first time near the signal station on South Head to guide a ship, the Bellona into the harbour. A flare was maintained until the first lighthouse ( Macquarie Lighthouse ) was commissioned on South Head in 1818.

Lighthouses followed settlement and lights were erected at Iron Pot at the entrance to the Derwent River in 1832, at Cape Bruny in 1836 and at Shortland's Bluff (Queenscliffe) in 1842.

The development of the lighthouse system was for the most part a 19th-century phenomenon, as a result of a series of inter-related improvements in optical systems, and the development and introduction of oil and electric illuminants. The partial lighting of the Australian coasts and the granting of self-government to New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia in 1855–56 led to moves to achieve stronger inter-colonial co-operation. Sir William Denison, the Governor of New South Wales suggested in 1856 that an intercolonial board be appointed to erect and maintain lighthouses. The board was formed, and met in Melbourne in 1856, but it was decided that the task was "hopeless".

This first serious attempt by the Australian colonies to achieve a national approach to maritime safety by means of lighthouses had failed. None of the colonies was prepared to change its existing arrangements for the common good. This was to remain the situation until the Federation of colonies in 1901 when the Commonwealth government assumed responsibility for shipping and navigational devices.

The Adelaide constitutional convention of 1897 confirmed the previously debated arrangements that federal legislation was to deal with the construction, maintenance and management of lighthouses, lightships, lightsirens, beacons, buoys and signs for shipping throughout the Commonwealth and over its adjacent seas. It was also to impose and collect dues to be paid by owners or masters of ships which derived benefits from the lights or other navigational devices.

Lack of finance prevented the Commonwealth government from taking action for some years after Federation. At the same time, the states were not willing to commit funds to construct lighthouses which they knew the Commonwealth would take over sooner or later. New South Wales completed the lighthouse at Norah Head in 1903, Western Australia erected on Cape Naturaliste in 1903-4 and Tasmania built one on Tasman Island in 1906, but the states were otherwise inactive as they awaited developments on the part of the Federal government.

The Commonwealth Lighthouse Service was set up in 1913. On 1 July 1915 the Commonwealth officially accepted responsibility for 104 staffed lightstations, 18 automatic lights, one light buoy, 16 unlit buoys, and forty unlit beacons and obelisks.

Australia's first lighthouse, designed by Francis Greenway, was erected in 1818 at South Head under the direction of Governor Macquarie and the lighthouse was named in his honour. For forty years, it remained the only lighthouse on the coast of present-day NSW. By the 1850s, the colonial economy had been boosted by the discovery of gold, and the population of NSW doubled between 1851 and 1860. A period of lighthouse building spanning almost 50 years followed, beginning in 1858 with the construction of the Hornby Light on Sydney 's Inner South Head. After 1862, with the appointment of Frances Hixson, NSW embarked upon an ambitious program of lighthouse building erecting some 17 major lights prior to the establishment of the Commonwealth Lighthouse Service in 1915. This saw a lighthouse on average every 54.4 kilometres (33.8 mi) along the NSW coast, the highest density in Australia.

Because of a combination of factors including the fact that James Barnet was the Colonial Architect for most of this time (1862–1890), the 1890s economic depression, and Federation in 1901, most of the NSW lighthouses were designed by Barnet. The lightstations built after 1890 are therefore comparatively rare, only the major lights being established between that date and the take over by the Commonwealth in 1915; these lights are Point Perpendicular (1899), Smoky Cape (1891), Cape Byron (1901) and Norah Head (1903).

The construction of Point Perpendicular lighthouse in 1897 brought a significant change to lighthouse construction in the colony. In an effort to reduce the cost of building in remote areas, a standard design was developed using precast concrete blocks and local aggregates. After the completion of Point Perpendicular lighthouse, similar structures were erected at Cape Byron in and at Norah Head.

Main article: Norah Head Light Mariners were calling for the erection of a lighthouse on " Bungaree Noragh Point" (Norah Head) as early as 1861. Ten wrecks occurred in the area of Norah Head over the years 1894 to 1903, one of the most tragic being the steamer, Gwydir, in 1894, in which three lives were lost. Edward Hammond Hargraves (1816–1891), gold rush publicist, was influential in pressing for the construction of a lightstation. From his nearby residence at Norahville, he had become aware of the growing number of wrecks occurring in the vicinity. Regular agitation by mariners and the public over many years, was unproductive.

One of the last acts, however of the Newcastle Marine Board, prior to its abolition, was to recommend the construction of a lighthouse at Norah Head. Responsibility for lighthouses then passed to the Public Works Department. As a result of the 1887 Board of Inquiry into the Civil Service, the design of lighthouses was partly transferred from the Colonial Architects Office to the Harbours and Rivers Navigation Branch. The plans for Norah Head were initialled by Charles Assinder Harding and signed by Cecil Darley, Engineer in Chief for Public Works. James Barnet claimed responsibility for the design of this lighthouse and for similar structures previously built at Point Perpendicular and Byron Bay, his influence can be seen in the design.

Construction of the lighthouse began in 1901, and was undertaken by day labour. Materials for the lighthouse were brought by boat into Cabbage Tree Harbour and unloaded onto a wharf which had been constructed for this purpose. The lighthouse was completed in 1903. It follows in all essentials the precast block construction method using local aggregates which was first introduced at Point Perpendicular in 1899. It was the last staffed lighthouse constructed in NSW.

Also constructed 1902/3 were: a lightkeepers cottage with garden (concrete blocks with terracotta tiles of the Marseilles pattern on the roof); a small building for a fuel store, workshop and paint store and earth closet (concrete blocks with terracotta tiles of the Marseilles pattern on the roof); Assistant Keeper's duplex (eastern and western quarters) built of concrete blocks with terracotta tiles of the Marseilles pattern on the roof; a signal house constructed as a flag house for the flagstaff (constructed of precast concrete blocks painted, cemented inside, with roof of concrete); a timber flagstaff; a stables constructed of concrete blocks with terracotta tiles of the Marseilles pattern for the roof; and two small fuel stores (earth closet and sink) constructed of concrete blocks, with roofs of terracotta tiles of the Marseilles pattern.

The Norah Headquarters are almost identical in design to those at Cape Byron constructed two years earlier, but significantly different from those at Point Perpendicular. The buildings contain the elaborate stormwater and sullage systems typical of the work of Barnet and Harding.

A lantern, of the type used on the New South Wales coast by Barnet, was fitted with a kerosene burning first order dioptric revolving light system manufactured by the Birmingham firm of Chance Bros. Chance Brothers and Co., Limited, Lighthouse Engineers and Constructors, of Smethwick, Birmingham, England were by the beginning of the 20th century the sole lighthouse manufacturers. The focal plane of the light was 46 metres (151 ft) above high water mark and visibility horizon was 29 kilometres (18 mi).

The light was first exhibited on 15 November 1903. The original light was on 438,000 candle power. The cost of the optical apparatus in 1901 was A£ 5,000. On 13 April 1923, the concentric wick burner inside the lens was replaced by a Ford-Schmidt kerosene burner and the light power was increased to 700,000 candle power. In 1960 the stables were converted to a garage. On 28 March 1961 the light was converted to electric operation and the power was increased to 1,000,000 candelas. At the same time the staffing of the light was reduced from three lightkeepers to two.

The Lightstation has been a popular tourist attraction since it began operating. In April 1993, Norah Head was one of only 18 staffed lightstations in Australia administered by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA). The lighthouse was automated and destaffed in 1994. The lighthouse reserve was handed over in 1997 to NSW Department of Land and Water Conservation. The site is now managed by the Norah Head Lighthouse Trust and used as a tourist destination, for holiday accommodation as a mix of day- and longer-term accommodation uses.

Australia's first lighthouse, designed by Francis Greenway, was erected in 1818 at South Head under the direction of Governor Macquarie and the lighthouse was named in his honour. For forty years, it remained the only lighthouse on the coast of present-day NSW. By the 1850s, the colonial economy had been boosted by the discovery of gold, and the population of NSW doubled between 1851 and 1860. A period of lighthouse building spanning almost 50 years followed, beginning in 1858 with the construction of the Hornby Light on Sydney 's Inner South Head. After 1862, with the appointment of Frances Hixson, NSW embarked upon an ambitious program of lighthouse building erecting some 17 major lights prior to the establishment of the Commonwealth Lighthouse Service in 1915. This saw a lighthouse on average every 54.4 kilometres (33.8 mi) along the NSW coast, the highest density in Australia.