Details of upcoming meetings and minutes of AGM meetings are posted here. 

The LOA 2026 AGM will be held in Coffs Harbour on Saturday the 5th of September 2026.         

Activities will commence at 5pm on Thursday, September 3 for an opportunity to meet over a drink at the Pier Hotel, 356 Harbour Drive Coffs Harbour. You can stay on for dinner or organise another venue if you prefer.

On Friday September 4 we are hoping to take you to South Solitary Island via Helicopter. We need expressions of interest from people ASAP as we need a minimum number of passengers to operate the helicopter which seats nine passengers. For those not taking the helicopter you can take a cruise around South Solitary Island on the Pacific Explorer. The four hour cruise will depart the Coffs Harbour Marina at 8am. The vessel can accommodate a maximum of 20 people. Please email president@lighthouses.org.au for information and your expression of interest. 

Friday evening at 4.45pm we meet at Mie Mie’s Restaurant, 75 Jordan Esplanade Coffs Harbour for drinks and canapes and the lighting of the optic at 5.15pm. This will be followed by dinner. We will be entertained by the Sea Shanty Singers. Tickets $60 available through Eventbrite.

Saturday we invite you to start the day with breakfast and a Jetty Walk. Meet at 8am at Café Twenty 46, 394 Harbour Drive, Coffs Harbour for breakfast followed by a stroll out to the Jetty.

Our Annual General Meeting commences at 10.30am at Park Beach Bowling Club, 60 Ocean Parade, Coffs Harbour.

We are privileged to welcome Inger Sheil as our meeting presenter. Inger is an author and historical commentator currently serving as an assistant curator at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney. Her work spans public outreach, exhibition project development, and historical research covering maritime history.

Saturday afternoon you can undertake the Dammerels History Walk – where thousands of years of Indigenous cultural heritage alongside a dramatic 19th-century maritime history is preserved. We will be guided by Karen Filewood meeting at 2pm. Alternatively you can visit other attractions around Coffs Harbour including the Coffs Harbour Museum. Saturday night’s dinner will be impromptu with Coffs Harbour offering a variety of restaurants to choose from.

Sunday morning we have access to Smokey Cape lighthouse which sits at 128 metres making it the highest lighthouse in NSW, its location providing a commanding view along South Smokey Beach down to Hat Head 14km to the South. Another of James Barnet’s lights it was first lit on April 15, 1891 by principal keeper Captain Robert Kelly who had transferred from South Solitary Island. Theresa, who operates the keepers cottages B & B has kindly offered to provide morning tea. 

From Smokey Cape, attendees are invited to Tacking Point just over an hours drive south where Mark Sheriff OAM has offered to open the lighthouse. This invitation is extended to Monday morning to allow plenty of time for any diversions of interest people may want to pursue. Mark has assembled a collection of lighthouse artifacts in both Smokey Cape and Tacking Point that will be of interest to many people. The Coffs Harbour AGM is an excellent opportunity to visit some of NSW’s iconic lighthouses and to meet with our vibrant associates from Friends of South Solitary Island.

Our AGM with its presenters is an opportunity to learn about our lighthouse heritage and its conservation. If we have enough interested parties to operate the helicopter, a twin engine Bell 212, it’s a very rare opportunity to visit the remarkable South Solitary Island.

2024 Annual General Meeting

The LOA 2024 AGM was held in Kingston SE South Australia. Activities across the weekend starting on Friday the 18th October 2024 included: 

Friday 18

• Logbooks exhibition in Senior Citizens Clubrooms (82 selected pages from 1872-1966)
• Trips to the Margaret Brock Reef and lighthouse platform (Limestone Coast Boat Tours)
• Day tour of the Cape Jaffa Lighthouse
• Walking tour to the CJL cottage ruins at Cape Jaffa (Friends of Butcher Gap guides)
• Night tour of the Cape Jaffa Lighthouse with light on – from 7.30pm

Saturday 19

• Trips to the MB Reef and lighthouse platform
• Day tour of CJL
• Logbooks exhibition in Senior Citizens Clubrooms
• Walking tour to CJL cottage ruins at Cape Jaffa
• AGM: 2pm, with Guest Speakers:

Relocating the CJL tower: Anne Daw (daughter, Verne McLaren).

Armin Huefner (project engineer in 1975 – footings & lower structure)                                

• DINNER @ Crown Inn Hotel

Sunday 20

• Walking tour to CJL cottage ruins at Cape Jaffa
• Logbooks exhibition in Senior Citizens Clubrooms
• Morning tea at S C Clubrooms
• Speaker: 30am – 12pm: Professor Miles Lewis: “The Iron Lighthouse”

Miles Lewis, Chair, World Heritage nomination – Portable Buildings in the Nineteenth Century

• LUNCH @ Senior Citizens Clubrooms
• Day tours of the Cape Jaffa Lighthouse
• Night tour with light on – from 7.30pm

Other:

‘Lighthouse Lives’ film (Scotland), courtesy Northern Lighthouses Board

‘Saving the Platform’ (on the Margaret Brock Reef) video

2023 Annual General Meeting

The LoA 2023 AGM followed by dinner was held on the 21st of October on the Mornington Peninsula.

Our AGM keynote speaker was Mark Sheriff OAM. Mark shared some of his experiences ameliorating some of Australia’s heritage lighthouses and the many adventures in undertaking  work over the last 25 years for which Mark was awarded an OAM in 2019.

Activities in conjunction with the AGM included lighthouse visits on Friday, Saturday and Sunday to Cape Schanck, McCrae, Point Lonsdale and the Black and White Queenscliff lighthouses.

2021 Annual General Meeting  – Reports

The AGM Meeting was held on the 8th of October at 3pm AEST using ZOOM due to travel restrictions limiting travel to Tasmania.

2021 Annual General Meeting  – Reports

2020 Annual General Meeting  – Minutes

Held using ZOOM on line – 9th October 2020