The lighthouse at Cape Leeuwin, near Augusta in Western Australia is 39 metres high (57 metres above sea level). The buildings on the right are the original cottages for the keeper and his assistants. This lighthouse is still operational, although it is now automated. Despite satnav, radar and other devices, the simple shining light is still an important aspect of maritime safety, especially at this point where there are many rocks hidden just below the surface of the water.

This lighthouse is on the furthermost point of south western Australia. To the south (left on this photograph) the nearest landmass is Antarctica. To the south also is the confluence of two oceans, the Indian Ocean to the west and the Southern Ocean to the south and east; the latter ocean can be very stormy and windy. Indeed the winds on the Cape are almost constant and are sometimes very strong. (I can vouch for the fact that standing on the platform at the top of the lighthouse can be a very unnerving experience!)

The structure was completed and opened in 1895, which is before the existence of Australia as a unified country. Indeed, requests from the colony of Western Australia for financial help for the construction were rebuffed by some of the other colonies who objected to paying towards something so far away from their own coastlines. (This, of course, doesn’t surprise us in WA, who are still treated as bogans on the edge of civilisation by those in the east :-)