Queenscliff Low Light

Queenscliff Low Light

Queenscliff Low Light
Location	Port Phillip Victoria Australia
Coordinates	38°16′25.5″S 144°39′33.4″E / 38.273750°S 144.659278°E / -38.273750; 144.659278
Tower
Constructed	1854 (first)
Construction	bluestone tower
Automated	1999
Height	22.2 metres (73 ft)
Shape	cylindrical tower with balcony and lantern
Markings	white tower with vertical red daymark, green lantern and balcony
Power source	mains electricity
Operator	Port of Melbourne Corporation
Light
First lit	1863 (current)
Focal height	28.6 metres (94 ft)
Range	white: 22 kilometres (14 mi) red: 20 kilometres (12 mi) green: 11 kilometres (6.8 mi)
Characteristic	Oc. W 15s.

The Queenscliff Low Light, also known as the Queenscliff White Lighthouse, is a lighthouse in the township of Queenscliff in the Borough of Queenscliffe, Victoria, Australia, at the eastern end of the Bellarine Peninsula. It stands inside the entrance to Port Phillip from Bass Strait, on the lower slope of the Queenscliff Peninsula overlooking "The Rip", a stretch of water considered one of the ten most treacherous navigable passages in the world. It is operated by the Port of Melbourne Corporation.^[1][2]

History

The light station was first established in 1854 with a prefabricated wooden lighthouse, which was dismantled in 1863 and moved to Point Lonsdale when the permanent lighthouse was built.^[3] The lamp and its housings were manufactured in England by Chance Brothers. The light was converted to gas in 1890 and to electricity in 1924.^[1]

Operation

The main purpose of the lighthouse is to show a white light in range with the Queenscliff High Light as a guide for ships in the main channel entering Port Phillip. It is flanked by the skeletal Hume and Murray Towers, showing red and green lights respectively, that blink in unison with the lighthouse to provide a unique entrance pattern defining the correct course through the Rip.^[2]

See also

• List of lighthouses in Australia

Notes

Sources

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Queenscliff Low Light.

• Ibbotson, John (2004). Lighthouses of Australia. Images from the end of an era. Surrey Hills, VIC 3127: Australian Lighthouse Traders. ISBN 0-646-41674-X.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
• Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of Australia: Victoria". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 9 March 2010.

This Australian lighthouse-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

This page was last edited on 30 April 2024, at 08:22