A Now-Iconic Lighthouse is Inaugurated in Australia

March 19, 1878

The Point Moore Lighthouse in the British crown colony (now state) of Western Australia (WA) was first lit. This 111.6-foot (34-meter) navigational aid is located about three miles (five kilometers) south of the downtown area of the coastal city of Geraldton in WA’s Mid West region.

At the time of its debut, this lighthouse was the first steel tower to be installed on the mainland of Australia. The various sections of the lighthouse had been created in England by the engineering firm Chance Brothers & Company and then transported to Australia via the schooner Lady Louisa.

The Point Moore Lighthouse, which resembles a large candy cane due to its broad red and white stripes, has become a popular tourist attraction in that part of WA. This structure was placed on the WA Heritage Council’s Register of Historic Places in 2001.

Leigh O’Brien, who is a longtime employee of the Western Australian Museum in Geraldton, underscored the local significance of the lighthouse during a 2013 interview. “The city of Geraldton has grown up around the Point Moore Lighthouse,” she said. “This iconic landmark is a pivotal point in many people’s experiences and memories of daily town and nautical life in Geraldton.”

Photo Credit: Andrew Owens (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en)

For more information on the Point Moore Lighthouse, please check out https://www.australiascoralcoast.com/destination/geraldton/point-moore-lighthouse and https://lighthouses.org.au/wa/point-moore-lighthouse/