Here's a lighthouse that is a bit different. Instead of being built on a clifftop or near the bank of an estuary, it is on the top of a 100m high hill 500m from the ocean. The lighthouse is only 20m tall, much easier for visitors to climb the stairs for the view from the balcony. It is the Cape Naturaliste lighthouse in Western Australia. It was built in 1904 and went into service the next year. It is built from limestone which was quarried nearby. It is one of the few lighthouses that still use their original Fresnel lens. I like these lenses because they are a clever way of making a big lens that is much lighter and flatter than a conventional lens. If you get the chance to look closely at a lighthouse lens you will see that is a lens that has several steps ground into it, sort of folding the lens into itself. Fresnel lenses were actually originally invented for lighthouses. Mum still aims to get to every accessible lighthouse in Australia, including historic lighthouse ruins and ones that have been deactivated and moved into museums . This was number 91.
Labels: lighthouse, Western Australia
# posted by Bart Bear @ 11:24 am
