Photograph courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributors. Used under Creative Commons licence.
About North Reef Light
North Reef Light is an active lighthouse located on North Reef, a 5.6 square kilometres (2.2 sq mi) planar reef, about 120 kilometres (75 mi) northeast of Gladstone, Queensland, Australia in the Capricorn and Bunker Group. The lighthouse was constructed on a migratory patch of sand inside a fringing coral reef, which over the years disappeared and reappeared, as sand was washed away and accumulated, and is now a vegetated sandy island.
Its construction is unique, having a hollow concrete base that both gives it resistance to the shifting nature of the sandbar and serves as a freshwater tank. As such, it is considered one of the major achievement in Australian lighthouse construction. It is also notable in that due to the harsh conditions, only bachelors were allowed to serve as lighthouse keepers.
At 24 metres (79 ft) it is also the tallest of Queensland's timber-framed iron clad lighthouses.
Visiting North Reef Light
- Location: 23.1852°S, 151.9031°E — view on Google Maps
- Access: Conditions vary by site. Some lighthouses sit on public headlands with car parks and interpretive signage; others are on islands or in active marine reserves requiring a boat or permit. Check with the relevant state parks service or heritage body for current access, opening times and fees before visiting.
Further reading
Read more on Wikipedia → — used under CC BY-SA 4.0. This article includes contributions from the Wikipedia community.