Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse
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Western Australia
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Location |
Cape Leeuwin Western Australia |
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Coordinates | 34°22′27″S 115°08′09″E / 34.37417°S 115.13583°ECoordinates: 34°22′27″S 115°08′09″E / 34.37417°S 115.13583°E |
Year first lit | 1895 |
Construction | limestone tower |
Tower shape | cylindrical tower on square base |
Markings / pattern | white tower and lantern |
Height | 39 metres (128 ft) |
Focal height | 57 metres (187 ft) |
Original lens | 2nd order Chance Brothers Fresnel lens |
Characteristic | Fl W 7.5s. |
Admiralty number | K1794 |
NGA number | 8872 |
ARLHS number | AUS-035 |
The Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse is a lighthouse located on the headland of Cape Leeuwin, i/ˈluːwɪn/ the most south-westerly point on the mainland of the Australian Continent, in the state of Western Australia.
Opened with great ceremony by John Forrest in 1895, the lighthouse has since been automated. The lighthouse, besides being a navigational aid, serves as an important automatic weather station. The lighthouse's buildings and grounds are now vested in the local tourism body and the single (1960s) and double (1980s) communications towers that were north-west of the lighthouse, seen in older photographs of Cape Leeuwin, have been removed.
The nearest functioning lighthouse north of Cape Leeuwin is the much smaller Cape Hamelin lighthouse, just south of the Hamelin Bay camping area.
The young Felix von Luckner, later a German WWI war hero noted for his long voyage on the Seeadler during which he captured 14 enemy ships, was briefly assistant lighthouse keeper, a job he abandoned when discovered with his hotel keeper's daughter by her father.