Recognition Ceremony at Green Cape Lightstation
A heritage recognition ceremony was held at Green Cape Lightstation on the south coast of New South Wales on 19 February 2011. About 40 Engineers Australia members and guests attended the remote site on a prominent headland at the southern end of the Ben Boyd National Park between Eden and the Victorian border. National President Merv Lindsay was in attendance along with the owners representatives Deputy director of DECCW National Parks Group Sally Barnes. The ceremony included a very impressive “welcome to country” ceremony by a local Aboriginal leader Pastor Ossie Cruse.
The station was completed in 1883 and the original lighthouse served until 1992. The octagonal section mass concrete tower is 20.7 metres from the ground to the balcony with a total height of 30.1 metres. The lighthouse contains Chance Brothers of Birmingham mechanical and optical equipment with a light output of 1 million candelas in its final form and could be seen 40 kilometres out to sea. It is the tallest lighthouse on the New South Wales coast.
The lighthouse was replaced by a solar powered light on a lattice steel tower near the original lighthouse in 1992.
The award in this case was an Engineering Heritage National Landmark.
The Green Cape Lightstation was part of the “Highway of Lights” which provided safe passage for ships along the entire NSW coast with 25 lighthouses of which Green Cape was the most southerly. Ships were able to always see at least one lighthouse as they travelled along the coast if the weather permitted.
