Cape Jaffa Lighthouse facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Cape Jaffa Lighthouse (museum) |
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Cape Jaffa Lighthouse
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| General information | |
| Town or city | Kingson SE South Australia |
| Country | Australia |
| Coordinates | 36°50′09″S 139°50′47″E / 36.835941°S 139.846272°E |
| Construction started | 1976 |
| Completed | 1976 |
The Cape Jaffa Lighthouse is a special old lighthouse. It used to stand far out at sea near Cape Jaffa in South Australia. Its tall tower is now in the town of Kingston SE. The National Trust of South Australia owns it. They run it as a museum. The original base of the lighthouse is still out in the ocean today.
Building the Lighthouse
Building this lighthouse took three years. It first opened on January 6, 1872. It was built about 8 kilometers (5 miles) offshore. It stood on the Margaret Brock Reef. A terrible shipwreck, the SS Admella, helped show why this lighthouse was needed.
The lighthouse was a special type called a screw pile lighthouse. It was held firmly in place by being screwed into the ocean rocks. The tower was 41 meters (135 feet) tall. It was designed to handle the local ocean conditions. The lighthouse had eight rooms inside. This was enough space for two lighthouse keepers and their families. They could store supplies for several weeks there. The light could be seen up to 40 kilometers (25 miles) away.
In the early 1970s, the government added an automatic light. The lighthouse was then given to the National Trust of South Australia. After almost 101 years of use, the Cape Jaffa Lighthouse was turned off. This happened on April 1, 1973. A new lighthouse at Robe started working instead.
The original base of the lighthouse is still standing in the ocean. Today, many Australasian gannet birds live and breed there.
Life as a Lighthouse Keeper
When the lighthouse first started, three keepers worked there. One more keeper worked at a station on the shore. The keepers would take turns working. They would spend one month on shore. Then they would spend three months at the lighthouse.
The shore keeper had important jobs. They took care of the lighthouse cottages. They also monitored the radio.
One keeper, Charles Henry West, worked at Cape Jaffa Lighthouse. He was there from 1893 to 1919. He also worked at other lighthouses. Before this, he was a customs officer.
Visiting the Museum
The lighthouse tower was moved to Kingston SE in 1976. It became a museum there. You can visit it during South Australian school holidays.
The museum shows what life was like for lighthouse keepers. You can see how they and their families lived inside the tower. There is even a special quilt on one of the beds. It is so important that it is on the National Quilt Register. In 2016, a new display opened. It tells the sad story of the 1852 shipwreck of the ship Margaret Brock.
