Sandy Cape

The Queensland Engineer for Harbours and Rivers, Joseph Brady did a tour of inspection of the northern ports in 1865 and strongly recommended that a light be place on Sandy Cape. The area off Sandy Cape, known as the Breaksea Spit, has seen the loss of over 20 vessels.
Even though parts to make the lighthouse were ordered and received by 1867 due to the 1866 financial crash in Queensland the tower was not assembled and exhibited until May 1870.

Building the lighthouse was achieved by the Rooney Brothers who won the contract. They bought a 200 ton vessel The Resolute to bring the tower and lantern room from Brisbane, and the cement from Sydney. Materials were brought by to the shore by ship, then unloaded into workboats (barges), then to trolleys and hauled by horse, on a specially constructed two stage trolley way laid with wooden rails, to the site, 100 m above sea-level. The first stage rose 50 metres over a 1.2 km section, and the final 50 metre lift to the site was by a horse operated windlass, with the trolleys pulled up the 60 degree sandy slope. The trolley way was maintained up until approx 1927.

The tower is similar to the one already constructed at Troubridge Shoal, South Australia, being assembled from cast iron segments manufactured by the Hennett Spinks and Company of Bridgewater, in Somerset, in England. Sandy Cape’s doorway has “Kitson & Co LEEDS 1866” cast above it. As with many lighthouses of the period it had a Chance Brothers apparatus. It has 5 floors connected by an internal staircase. Sandy Cape’s first apparatus was a revolving first order lens that flashed every two minutes and had a range of 20 miles so as to extend over the Breaksea Spit. The original light source was a Chance 4 wick burner.

The cottages were built of weather board and iron roofs to house the Head Keeper, and 3 Assistant Keepers and their families.
Captain George Poynter Heath, the first Portmaster of Queensland, stated that the greatest danger on the Queensland coast, the Breaksea Spit was now safe. As with many remote major Queensland lights a school mistress was supplied and would have been billeted with one of the families.

In April 1917 the light source was converted to an incandescent mantle using vaporised kerosene from a Kitson burner. Like other lights of the period the light was rotated by a clockwork mechanism that had to be wound up by the keepers at regular intervals.
In June 1937 the light was converted to electric operation and the orginal apparatus replaced.

The light was converted to solar in 1995 and the two remaining keepers departed on the 30th June 1997 after 127 years of manned presence at the station. The two quarters and workshop have been powered by solar since 2001, with storage in a battery bank and backup by diesel generator.

New keepers’ cottages were built around 1933.

During World War II the station was also RAAF No. 25 Radar Station. 30 men were based her in huts in the valley. The bunkers still remain today as visitor attraction. During this period the keepers and their families still remained at the station.

1995 the lighthouse was converted to solar power and automated. the 4th order lens was replaced with a VRB-25 apparatus,

1997 the station was demanned and transferred back to Queensland Govt. The 4th order Chance Bros lens can be seen on the ground floor of the lighthouse