HEADLINES OF OLD: lighthouse

Showing posts with label lighthouse. Show all posts

Tuesday, 8 January 2019

CIRCUMNAVIGATING AUSTRALIA'S COLONIAL HISTORY - TROVE TUESDAY 8th Jan 2019 Pt. 14

N.B. Approximate position

Ever wanted to circumnavigate Australia? We still have a way to go...we'll be going on quite a journey, at least virtually, and clockwise. So as to make sure all states and territories are covered, we started in Western Australia and explored a little of the early history of a small part of this massive state via TROVE...from Rottnest Island to Broome..then across to Katherine Gorge, then Tennant Creek, from there to Darwin on the way to the Tiwi Islands, Bathurst and Melville.

We've had to travel back to Darwin, before leaving the Northern Territory, then across to Cairns, in North Queensland... but we didn't stop there, instead headed to the tropical north, to one of the most beautiful areas you can imagine... isolated yes, but perfect for that great getaway... to Cape Tribulation. It seems you loved that area so well, that Cairns was the obvious place to travel to next... not too far south. That was another very popular place...as was our visit to Fraser Island...

We then headed inland, on an approximately 6 hours flight to a place steeped in history.. what a contrast to the sub tropical island of Fraser ...no waterfalls or clear lakes or rainforest, but Longreach has so much to offer.

We then returned to Hervey Bay, by plane, and then took a short drive of approximately 25 minutes to a town founded in 1847... the charming historical town of Maryborough. So many of you loved that place as I do.

What a contrast the next destination was, though it is also very much steeped in history... a beautiful place, but it was a place of horror, of deprivation and loneliness... St. Helena Island. To get there, we left on a ferry from Manly, across to the island.

Then we returned to Brisbane, to explore the beautiful, sub tropical capital city of the Sunshine State. Brisbane today, is the third largest city in Australia and growing rapidly...

It has come a long way from it's beginnings as the Moreton Bay convict settlement, with such an interesting history. In an earlier issue, we explored some of the history of Brisbane, then visited Brisbane of a later period. There is so much to see and do in this beautiful city, once known as the biggest country town in Australia...

After a break, we resumed our travels... heading in to New South Wales... not too far over the border, to a place that literally stands out, begging to be noticed. It was first given a European name by Captain James Cook... he recorded seeing " a remarkable sharp peaked mountain lying inland". That place was the very imposing Mt. Warning.. you can refresh your memory here

The New Year sees us travelling again, refreshed and ready to go to yet another beautiful place. Many of you will have stopped there, if only to get a photo taken on the border between Queensland and New South Wales..Coolangatta one side, Tweed Heads on the other. Hard to believe that this was only known as Point Danger in times past, as indeed it was... the lighthouse is a clue...

To quote from Wikipedia..

Point Danger is a headland, located at Coolangatta on the southern end of the Gold Coast on the east coast of Australia. Separated by Snapper Rocks and Rainbow Bay to the west, with Duranbah Beach and the Tweed River mouth to the south, present-day Point Danger has also indicated the border between New South Wales and Queensland, Australia, since 1863.

The point is the location of the Captain Cook memorial and lighthouse, the Centaur Memorial and Walk of Remembrance, the Marine Rescue NSW Point Danger station, and the southern end of the Gold Coast Oceanway.

The Centaur Memorial remembers the sinking of Australian Hospital Ship Centaur by a Japanese submarine on 14 May 1943. The Walk of Remembrance commemorates other ships lost to Japanese and German action during World War II and takes the form of plaques arranged in a semicircle around the lookout fence.

You will find that Point Danger features often in Captain Cook's journals.. you can read more about it here

Point Danger Light also known as Captain Cook Memorial Light Coolangatta courtesy of State Library QLD.

Another aspect...

Lighthouse at Point Danger, Coolangatta, Queensland — a memorial to Lieutenant James Cook of HM Bark Endeavour who named the Point and described the area during the voyage of 1770.

Eertman at Dutch Wikipedia - Transferred from nl.wikipedia to Commons. Public Domain

This lighthouse was much needed as can be seen by this list of shipwrecks...thanks to the NSW Heritage Office.

The Australasian, Melbourne 7 May 1870

wreck Perseverance

Wreck of the SS Tyalgum Duranbah beach. Copy of original photo by Robert Warbrooke Snr.
Creative Commons

Looking towards Tweed Heads, from Point Danger, ca. 1890 State Library Qld

Tweed Heads headlands, ca. 1891 John Oxley Library SLQ

Wreck of the Orara at Point Danger, ca. 1901 State Library Qld

Queensland Country Life (Qld. : 1900 - 1954), Monday 1 November 1909,

National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article100868691

There had been quite a long discussion as to where the lighthouse should be...

Brisbane Courier 14 Sep 1912

Coolangatta from Pt. Danger 1921
Copy of original photo by Robert Warbrooke Snr.
Creative Commons

As if that wasn't enough, then the discussion re the change of state boundary took place...

The Richmond River Express & Casino Kyogle Advertiser 7 Aug 1925

Copy of original photo by Robert Warbrooke Snr. c 1930
Creative Commons

Copy of original photo by Robert Warbrooke Snr.
Creative Commons c 1950

Point Danger Aussie~mobs

Despite it's past history, including a very busy industry of a port mainly used for transportation of cedar and later crops, of multiple ship wrecks in the area and the sometimes volatile discussions re the position of a lighthouse and the necessity of a defined border between NSW and QLD, Point Danger is now known best as a tourist magnet.. and why wouldn't it be?

Duranbah Beach & Tweed River mouth from Point Danger on the border of Queensland and New South Wales

The photos above and below are courtesy of David McKelvey, with permission to use for non commercial use. Some rights reserved
You will find more of David's great photos on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgmckelvey/32621724570/in/photostream/

Point Danger lookout

Courtesy of visa.nsw.com

Situated on the New South Wales/Queensland border, high on a peak overlooking Duranbah Beach which is popular for surfing. Point Danger was named by Captain James Cook on his 1770 journey up the east coast of Australia to warn later mariners of dangerous coral reefs off this treacherous coast.

From an historic point of view this place is brimming with interesting facts about Australian maritime history. At Point Danger you will find the Captain Cook Memorial, moulded from cast iron actually jettisoned from the Endeavour and recovered in the 1960s. Next to it is the lighthouse which was the first to experiment (unsuccessfully) with laser light. Memorial plaques are positioned along 'Centaur Remembrance Walk' to those lost at sea.

From Point Danger, you will often see dolphins out to sea, and on a fine day there are views from Surfers Paradise to Byron Bay.

For more information: http://www.destinationtweed.com.au

Have you added this to your bucket list, or are you already a convert as we are?

Tuesday, 19 June 2018

CIRCUMNAVIGATING AUSTRALIA'S COLONIAL HISTORY TROVE TUESDAY, 19 JUNE, 2018 Prt. 1

Ever wanted to circumnavigate Australia? Well, for the next few weeks, that's what we'll be doing, at least virtually, and clockwise. So as to make sure all states and territories are covered, we'll be starting in Western Australia and exploring the early history of a small part of this massive state via TROVE...

Rottnest Island

Courtesy of Pixabay

A place with an interesting history is Rottnest Island, which Wikipedia describes as follows...

Rottnest Island
Western Australia

Rottnest Island from space

Population

334 (2016 census; up to 15,000 visitors at peak holiday periods)^[1]^[2]

• Density

17.6/km² (45.5/sq mi)

Established

1830s

Postcode(s)

6161

Elevation

46 m (151 ft)

Area

19 km² (7.3 sq mi)

Time zone

AWST (UTC+8)

Location

19 km (12 mi) W of Fremantle

LGA(s)

A-class reserve administered by the Rottnest Island Authority

Mean max temp	Mean min temp	Annual rainfall
21.5 °C ^{71 °F}	14.9 °C ^{59 °F}	702.3 mm ^{27.6 in}

Location of Rottnest Island, Western Australia

Rottnest Island (known as Wadjemup to the local Noongar people, and otherwise colloquially known as Rotto) is an island off the coast of Western Australia, located 18 kilometres (11 mi) west of Fremantle. A sandy, low-lying island formed on a base of aeolianite limestone, Rottnest is an A-class reserve, the highest level of protection afforded to public land. Together with Garden Island, Rottnest Island is a remnant of Pleistocene dune ridges.^[3]

The island covers 19 square kilometres (7.3 sq mi) and is administered by the Rottnest Island Authority under a separate act of parliament. Rottnest is a popular holiday destination, and there are daily ferry services to Perth, the state's capital and largest city. It has a permanent population of around 300 people, with around 500,000 annual visitors (and up to 15,000 visitors at a time during peak periods).

You can read the rest of the article here

Rottnest Island
Courtesy of Pixabay

The following comprise a little of the history of Rottnest Island.

Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842), Saturday 10 January 1829, page 2

National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2191607

SWAN RIVER.

IN our Journal of Saturday last, we inserted an extract from the Courier newspaper on the proposed new settlement at Swan River, of the discovery of which we erroneously gave the credit to Captain Stirling, of His Majesty's ship Success, who visited that estuary on our West coast in the summer of 1827.
Since the notice of this river appeared, in our Paper, we have been obligingly favored with some little history of it; and as its banks may, ere long, be the site of a Western Colony, should Captain H. W. Montague (who, it appears, has been despatched to it in the ship Crocodile) report favorably of it, on a more minute and deliberate exploration of the river itself, and adjacent Country, than it should seem Captain Stirling had effected in 1827, we are happy to give insertion to the communication for the information of our Readers.
In the year 1696, the ship Geelvink, commanded by Cornelius de Vlaming, sailed from the Texel, in quest of a Dutch East Indiaman, supposed to have been lost on the coast of New Holland during her voyage from the Cape to Batavia. In December of that year, Vlaming made the West coast, in about lat. 32 ° South, and landing on a densely-wooded island in the offing, in company with the pilots of a dogger and small galley, likewise under his orders, found the soil, which was exceedingly sterile, perforated in every direction, forming horizontal burrows, the operations of what he considered a kind of rat ; and hence was suggested the name the island has ever since borne, viz. Rottnest. These burrows, however, have since been fully ascertained to be the retreats of a non-descript animal, having the habits of a brush kangaroo, but nevertheless (accord-ing to M. Peron, the able French Naturalist) forming a genus distinct in itself, of remarkable character.
From the Western side of Rottnest Island, the shores of the neighbouring main (named Edel's Land), and the estuary of a River) were descried by these early Navi-gators. In this river, which was explored to some distance from its mouth, Vlaming and his companions disturbed many swans, who instantly on their approach took to the wing ; and as numbers of these birds were met with as they ascended the stream, of which the sketch of Van Keulen, who was of the party, is still extant, the name of " Black Swan River," then given it, was suggested.
It does not appear that any further notice was taken by Navigators of Swan River during the succeeding century; in 1801, however, the French national ships of discovery, La Geographe and La Naturaliste, under the command of Commodore Baudin, touched on our opposite shores, and surveying this river, explored its channel considerably further than the point to which the Dutch Navigators had examined it.
Captain de Freycinet, who published an account of Baudin's Voyage, gives us the results of the boat-survey in the following words. (Voyage aux Terres Australes, p. 175, et seq) : -
" The mouth of Swan River is in latitude 32°. 4' 31" S.* and longitude East of Greenwich 115°. 46' 43". The channel is obstructed by a bar of rocks, which it is very difficult to pass over, and indeed
impracticable, if the wind blows from the sea. On entering, the passage is on the starboard side : it is narrow and shoal, and divided into two channels, in each of which there is from five to six feet of water ; after passing this, there is seven and eight feet : the course must then be towards the West, to avoid two shoals, which are on the right bank : after half a mile, the navigation is free, and in mid-channel the depth is not less than seven, eight, and nine feet. The river then trends in a northerly direction for seven miles, without any sinuosity of consequence. On the eastern bank are two
shoals ; the passage is then on the opposite side of the river, the depth of which is eight feet : beyond these banks the course of the river trends to the Eastward towards a low point, upon which there is a solitary tree: an extensive bank fronts this point, and the channel continues on the western shore ten feet deep. Here the river is a mile broad; it then increases its width, and forms spacious bays on either side, that were not examined.
* This parallel of latitude cuts the estate of J. P. Macqueen, Esq M. P. called Segenhoe, on one side of the continent, and our coast line a few miles North from Cape Hawke ; the climate of Swan River
may therefore be inferred.

" To the S. E. is an opening which may probably be an arm of the river: it was named Moreau Inlet : it was not examined.
" Opposite to it is a sharp point, fronted by a shoal, and the channel is on the Eastern side of the river, with 13 feet water.
" Here the river widens, and forms a basin two miles and a half wide : a little above this the river is blocked up by shoals and islets (Heirisson Isles) between which the depth is not more than two or three feet, but afterwards deeper gradually from five to fifteen feet : the banks of the river are then not more than one-third of a mile wide, and then-continued in a serpentine course, with a channel from seven to ten feet deep, and free from shoals, as far as the boats examined it. The stream of the river ran very slowly, and winds through a valley, one side of which is abrupt and precipitous, and when it ceases to be so on one side, the heights immediately appear on the other."
So much for the French account of Swan River, which was again visited, in 1827, by Captain Stirling, of the Royal Navy, whose observations on the fertility of the soil, and general capabilities of the circum-jacent country, coupled with those of Mr. Frazer, the Colonial Botanist, who accompanied that Officer in the Success, proved, on their return, of the most flattering description. Should these, therefore, be fully confirmed (of which we entertain not the shadow of a doubt,) by Captain Montague, a colony will doubtless be planted, to which the views of Emigrants may be the rather directed than to our side of the continent, inasmuch as the voyage outward will be at least one month shorter, and the communication with India, the Cape, and Mauritius more readily effected.