Lighthouse of the Week, August 25 - 31, 2024: Cape Borda Lightstation, Australia

 

This is strange. I said in last week's post that Australia doesn't have many lighthouses, yet this week I have another lighthouse from Australia (last week's lighthouse was also in Australia). 

I have different strange ways of finding lighthouses to feature, and some of them are random searches. That's what this one was. I searched on the phrase "boxy lighthouse". That was interpreted as square lighthouse, and this one popped up. It is indeed square (actually, cubical to be precise).

This is where it is, on Kangaroo Island near Adelaide. 

National Parks and Wildlife Service South Australia calls it a lightstation, so that's what I called it in the title. 

Google Search succintly tells me this:

"The Cape Borda lighthouse was built in 1858, and is the third oldest remaining in South Australia. It's also the only square stone lighthouse in South Australia and only one three lighthouses in Australia to retain a Deville lantern room."

So let's go see what the Lighthouse Directory has on it. By the way, Kangaroo Island actually has six lighthouses.

"1858. Active; focal plane 155 m (510 ft); four white flashes, separated by 2.5 s, every 20 s. 10 m (33 ft) square cylindrical stone tower with lantern and gallery, painted white. Rare 14-sided Deville lantern room. The original fog signal cannon, restored in 1999, is fired every day at 12:30. The principal keeper's house and relief keeper's cottage, previously available for overnight accommodations, were closed due to the bushfires of 2019-20. The former stable and storage building now houses the Cape Borda Heritage Museum. ... This lighthouse, South Australia's third oldest, is the traditional landfall light for Adelaide, marking the southern entrance to Investigator Strait and Gulf St. Vincent. Located at the northwestern point of Kangaroo Island."

I'm going to have to find a picture of that lantern room.  Below are a couple more websites for this one.

Cape Borda Lighthouse (Lighthouses of Australia Inc.)

Cape Borda Lightstation - Flinders Chase National Park (Kangaroo Island)

Now, about the lantern room. They don't let people up where the light is (though there is one picture showing the lantern/light). But -- the lantern room has 14 windows, so it's visible in the pictures where you can get a good view of the light. So take a look. 

You didn't think I'd forget the cannon, did you?