Point King Lighthouse

The ruins of the Point King lighthouse stand on rocks at the narrow entrance to Princess Royal Harbour in Albany. A modern sector port entry light higher up the hill guides shipping today.

For much of the nineteenth century, before the building of Fremantle harbour, Albany was the colony’s main port because it had a large natural protected harbour. In 1857 the British government supplied two lighthouses to guide shipping to the harbour. One was destined for Breaksea Island. The other was to stand at the entrance of the channel to the harbour at Point King.

The Pt King lighthouse consisted of a wooden tower approximately four feet square and a lantern and apparatus. When Captain Wray, who was in charge of the erection of the lighthouse, saw the equipment, he decided that the tower, which he considered quite flimsy, should be incorporated into quarters for a lightkeeper.

A site was chosen. The lightkeepers quarters was built on the rocks at the entrance to the harbour using locally available stone.

The small lightkeepers cottage consisted of four rooms. Two rooms stood on either side of a central hallway that led to the light tower. At some stage, a verandah was built on the northern side, with an enclosed room on either end. Later still, a kitchen was added, replacing the original kitchen inside the cottage.

The light was lit on 24 February 1858.

The keepers position was abolished in 1911 when a new automatic light was established adjacent to the cottage. The cottage subsequently fell into disrepair.

In World War II the abandoned cottage was used as a search light post. The south-eastern corner was much altered with concrete.

A conservation report in 1995 recommended that the cottage be stabilised with original materials. The 1940s concrete was removed and the cottage walls re-instated – not altogether sympathetically with the original fabric.

The lantern of the original lighthouse is on display in the Museum of the Great Southern in Albany.

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Sources

Keepers

William Hill, 1858–1860

Joseph Nelson, 1860–1867

Samuel Mitchell, January 1867–1903

John Reddin, May 1903–1910

The Albany pilot crew tended the light until the automatic light was lit in 1911.