The lantern of the Cape St George Lighthouse tells the fascinating story of a bygone era - when Jervis Bay was bustling with ships, industry, and sadly tragedy.
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Now, more than 150 years since it first shone over the cool waters of the South Coast, the lantern is back in the public eye at the Jervis Bay Maritime Museum.
The latest museum exhibit will officially open to the public this Friday, when the museum cuts the ribbon on a permanent structure for the lighthouse's lantern gallery - which has a long history of travelling around the Shoalhaven.
The Cape St George Lighthouse was commissioned in 1859 on the southern side of Jervis Bay.
Over the next 39 years, 23 shipwrecks occurred at Cape St George; as it turns out, bureaucratic bungles put the lighthouse in the wrong place, which was considered a contributor to the wrecks.
By 1890, the Cape St George Lighthouse was decommissioned and the lantern gallery - the lamp and its metal housing - was used to fit out Crookhaven Heads Lighthouse on the Shoalhaven River, completed in 1904.
Moving it was no mean feat, of course. The only access to Cape St George was by horse on a dirt track, and the lantern gallery weighed around three tonnes.
It stayed at Crookhaven Heads until after its decommissioning in 2007, remaining in situ until 2011. During the decommissioned years, the lighthouse suffered significant vandalism and there was a great need to find a safe place for the historic lantern gallery.
This time around, the Navy was called in to help: a helicopter team removed the lantern gallery from the lighthouse, then it was disassembled and taken by truck to the South Coast Correctional Facility in Nowra for restoration.
Jumping ahead to 2018, the lantern gallery was finally offered to the Jervis Bay Maritime Museum, after being in the hands of Crown Lands for many years.
Museum Director Diana Lorentz said the museum was the best place for it in the long term.
"Lighthouses are long associated as sentinels and symbols of keeping ships safe, and in this, the Museum is privileged to be offered the opportunity to provide a long-term keeping place for the Cape St George Lantern because it provides a direct and tangible link to the stories of our local maritime and coastal heritage," she said.
An official opening of the Cape St George Lighthouse lantern gallery will be at 12pm Friday, April 8, at the Jervis Bay Maritime Museum.
Jorja McDonnell
Jorja reports for the South Coast Register, and occasionally the Milton-Ulladulla Times. Email: jorja.mcdonnell@austcommunitymedia.com.au Phone: 0438 842 394
Jorja reports for the South Coast Register, and occasionally the Milton-Ulladulla Times. Email: jorja.mcdonnell@austcommunitymedia.com.au Phone: 0438 842 394
