Sunday, September 21, 2008

 

A Tale of Two Towers, part 2


This is the big tower, 20 metres high. It is at a spot called Red Point at the southern entrance to Twofold Bay. William Boyd built it in 1847 to be a lighthouse guiding his ships into his harbour at Boydtown. Like all of Boyd's projects it was expensive, he shipped sandstone blocks from Sydney rather than using local stone. The government would not give him permission to operate a private lighthouse, so it has never shown a light. He used it as a lookout tower for his whaling boats. The lookout would fire a gun when they spotted whales in the bay. After Boyd left for California the tower was used by other whalers until whaling stopped in the 1930s. Today the tower is in a national park and has been partially restored. There are spectacular views of the bay and the ocean coast from lookouts near the tower. At the right time of year you can see lots of whales which now visit the bay for a rest on their long swims between Antarctica and the tropics. You can see some strange things through the old door and windows if you click on the picture to make it larger.

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