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Wyborn Reef Light

Wyborn Reef Light aerial view
Location	Albany Island Queensland Australia
Coordinates	10°49′08.88″S 142°46′30.02″E / 10.8191333°S 142.7750056°E / -10.8191333; 142.7750056
Tower
Constructed	1938
Foundation	concrete piles
Construction	stainless steel skeletal tower
Height	69 feet (21 m)
Shape	square tower with balcony and lantern
Markings	white tower and lantern
Operator	Australian Maritime Safety Authority
Light
Focal height	70 feet (21 m)
Lens	Chance Brothers 375 mm catadioptric
Intensity	white: 3,300 cd red: 660 cd
Range	white: 11 nmi (20 km) red: 8 nmi (15 km)
Characteristic	Fl (4) WR 20s.

Wyborn Reef Light is an active lighthouse located at Wyborn Reef, formerly known as Y Reef, about 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) southeast of Albany Island, east of the tip of Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia. It marks the entrance to the Albany Passage. The lighthouse was constructed in 1938 and upgraded in 1991 and 1995. The structure is a stainless steel tower with a fiberglass hut within the framework, carrying a lantern.

History

The construction of an automatic lighthouse on Y Reef was approved by the Commonwealth Lighthouse Advisory Committee on 18 August 1937. This caused some confusion since a light was already present at the similarly named Wye Reef, 120 kilometres (75 mi) to the south. The light was eventually constructed by the Public Works Department in late 1938, in difficult conditions. The 14 workers lived in tents on a 50 by 50 feet (15 m × 15 m) wooden platform, 4 feet 6 inches (1.37 m) above tiger shark infested water, with no shelter from the heat. The light was finally exhibited about 10 December of that year. It was automatic and unattended from its construction, and showed a group flashing white light characteristic.

The 1957 Admiralty List of Lights and Fog Signals lists an unmanned white light with a red sector, with a light characteristic of four flashes every twenty second (Fl.(4)W.R. 20s), identical to the current light characteristic. The intensity listed is 3,000 cd for the white light and 1,300 cd for the red one. The light was under the responsibility of the Commonwealth Lighthouse Service.

The light was converted to solar power in 1991 and upgraded in 1995. The remaining pilings from a previous lighthouse are still present next to the current one.

Structure and display

The structure is a stainless steel tower skeletal tower, mounted on concrete piles, 17.5 metres (57 ft) high from the ground to the platform. The platform is topped by a gallery and a NAL-1 fibreglass white painted lantern, bringing the total height of the structure to 21 metres (69 ft). A white machinery fibreglass hut is located inside the tower framework.

The lens inside the lantern room is a Chance Brothers 375 mm catadioptric Fresnel lens.

The current light characteristic is four flashes every twenty second, white with a red sector at 133°-143° (Fl.(4)W.R. 20s). The white flashes are visible for 11 nautical miles (20 km; 13 mi) and the red ones for 8 nautical miles (15 km; 9.2 mi). The light source is a solar powered 12 Volt 35 Watt Halogen lamp with an intensity of 3300 cd for the white light and 660 cd for the red one.

Site operation and visiting

The site and the tower are operated by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. The island is accessible only by boat, and both the site and the tower are closed to the public.

See also

• List of lighthouses in Australia

References

1. "The Discovery and Exploration of Australia". australiaforeveryone.com.au. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
2. "New Lighthouses Approved". Townsville Daily Bulletin. 18 August 1937. p. 8.
3. "Names of Reefs. Duplication Dangers. To Navigation". Cairns Post. 29 March 1938. p. 12.
4. "Life Above the Sharks". Townsville Daily Bulletin. 12 November 1938. p. 7.
5. "Foundation For Lighthouse". The Queenslander. 16 November 1938.
6. "'Y' Reef Light". The Courier-Mail. 19 November 1938. p. 68.
7. ^ "Wyborn Reef Light, QLD, AN299-01" (PDF). Aids to Navigation Schedule Issue 14. Australian Maritime Safety Authority. May 2006.
8. Lack, Clem Llewellyn (1959). "The taming of the Great Barrier Reef" (PDF). Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland. 6 (1). Brisbane, Qld: 130–154. ISSN 0085-5804.
9. ^ Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of Australia: Far North Queensland". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
10. List of Lights, Pub. 111: The West Coasts of North and South America (Excluding Continental U.S.A. and Hawaii), Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, and the Islands of the North and South Pacific Oceans (PDF). List of Lights. United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. 2010. p. 193.

External links

• "List of Lighthouses of Queensland". Lighthouses of Australia. Lighthouses of Australia Inc.
• Searle, Garry. "List of Lighthouses - Queensland". Lighthouses of Australia. SeaSide Lights.
• Dean Saffron Wyborn Reef Light short film and photographs, State Library of Queensland

v t e Lighthouses of Queensland
South East Coast	Bulwer Island Cleveland Point Double Island Point Moreton Bay Pile New Caloundra Old Caloundra Point Cartwright Point Danger Point Lookout Moreton Island lighthouses Cape Moreton Comboyuro Point Cowan Cowan Point North Point Hummock Yellow Patch
Central Coast	Bustard Head Cape Capricorn Lady Elliot Island New Burnett Heads North Reef Old Burnett Heads Sandy Cape Sea Hill
North Coast	Albino Rock Bay Rock Cape Bowling Green Cape Cleveland Creal Reef Dent Island Flat Top Island Pine Islet
Far North Coast	Archer Point Fitzroy Island Grassy Hill Low Isles Wharton Reef
Torres Strait	Booby Island Eborac Island Goods Island Wyborn Reef
See also List of lighthouses in Australia

v t e List of Torres Strait topics
Torres Strait Islands, islets, and cays	Bellevue group Aipus Cap Kamutnab Keatinge Mabuiag Pulu Subur Warakuikul Talab Widul Bourke group Aukane Aureed Kabbikane Layoak Mimi Roberts Yam Duncan group Kanig Maitak Meth Inner group Port Lihou Yeta Adolphus Channel group Albany Bush Eborac Ida Middle Brother Talbot group Aubussi Boigu Moimi The Three Sisters group Bet Poll Sue Yorke group Keats Marsden Rennel Smith Ungrouped Allison Anchor Arden Badu Barn Barney Bond Booby Bramble Browne Campbell Canoe Castle Coconut Crab Dalrymple Darnley Dauan Dayman Deliverance Dove Dugong Dumaralug East East Strait Entrance Farewell Flat Friday Gabba Getullai Goods Great Woody Green Halfway Hammond Hawkesbury High Horn Kaumag Kerr Lacey Little Adolphus Little Woody Lowry Mai Meddler Moa Morilug Mouinndo Mount Adolphus Mount Ernest Murangi Murray Nepean Nicklin North North Possession North West Obelisk Packe Passage Pearce Phipps Portlock Prince of Wales Quoin Red Red Wallis Roko Saddle Saibai Salter Sassie Spencer Stephens Suarji Thursday Tobin Travers Tree Trochus Tudu Tukupai Turnagain Turtle Head Turtle Turu Twin Underdown Wednesday West Whale Woody Wallis York Yorke Zagai
People, culture, communities and languages	Notable Torres Strait Islanders Christine Anu Seaman Dan Aaron Fa'aoso Josh Hoffman Nathan Jawai Ellen Jose Robert Lui Eddie Mabo Rachael Maza Patty Mills Rita Mills Mills Sisters Danny Morseu Tanu Nona Albert Proud Wendell Sailor Sam Thaiday Brent Webb Jesse Williams Culture Indigenous music of Australia Mabo (film) Taba Naba Communities Bamaga Kaurareg Mabuiag Meriam (people) Seisia Languages Bine Eastern Trans-Fly Gizrra Kalaw Lagaw Ya Meriam Torres Strait Creole Torres Strait English Wipi
Governance and legal matters	Governance Shire of Torres Torres Strait Islander Flag Torres Strait Island Region Torres Strait Regional Authority Legal cases and principles Akiba v Commonwealth Mabo v Queensland No 1 No 2 Terra nullius
Buildings and structures	Boigu Island Airport Booby Island Light Coconut Island Airport Darnley Island Airport Eborac Island Light Goods Island Light Kubin Airport Murray Island Airport Saibai Island Airport Warraber Island Airport Wyborn Reef Light Yam Island Airport Yorke Island Airport
Other	Adolphus Channel Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Birds of Boigu, Saibai and Dauan Islands Endeavour Strait Alfred Cort Haddon Margaret Lawrie Sea Swift Warul Kawa Indigenous Protected Area
Category Commons See also: List of Torres Strait Islands

• Lighthouses completed in 1938
• Lighthouses in Queensland
• Torres Strait
• 1938 establishments in Australia