Seeing the Light

I drove to Byron Bay this morning for a routine medical appointment. Afterwards I revisited Cape Byron and its historic lighthouse. Cape Byron is the easternmost point of the Australian mainland, named by Captain Cook in 1770. 

The lighthouse came into operation in 1901, but the architectural style is reminiscent of earlier times. In the second half of the nineteenth century the NSW Government built a number of lighthouses along the coastline, with a vision of a 'highway of lights' to guide coastal shipping. The work was directed by Colonial Architect James Barnet. His lighthouse designs are said to borrow architectural themes established by convict architect Francis Greenway in his design of the Macquarie Light at the entrance to Sydney Harbour, completed in 1816. By the time the Byron Light was commissioned Barnett had retired. The architect in charge was his successor, Charles Assinder Harding. More info here in Wikipedia. 

The extra shows the lens for the Cape Byron Light. It is the original lens from 1901, is 2m in diameter, contains 760 pieces of highly polished prismatic glass, weighs 8 tonnes and floats in a 350 kg bath of mercury (quoting from Wikipedia). 

We live about 30 km south of Cape Byron. We don't see the Cape from our townhouse (Broken Head gets in the way). But at night we see the light from the lighthouse. Unless it's raining - which it is right now!