Cape St George Lighthouse

Vanessa Barbay

Petra: Can you share what your workshops look like?

Vanessa: My studio spaces are in my home and feature easels, projectors, cool studio lighting, carpeted floor spaces for grinding ochres and working flat like Indigenous painters (I also like to pool paint and need it to dry flat, so it does not drip). I mix my own oil mediums and have extensive oil tube collections. I use my downstairs verandah for cooking and applying rabbit skin glue, and my carport for the vinegar baths and line hanging of shrouds.

If needed, I conduct ochre painting workshops - applying commercially bought ochre pigments to cardboard. These workshops include Indigenous languages and seasonal themes learned from Kunwinjku, Dhurga and Dharawal communities and publications.

Petra: How did the recent world events affect your art? You have an entire exhibition hanging in your house ready to be viewed. In your opinion, do people need to be encouraged to engage with art and culture again?

Vanessa: Before Covid and the firestorms and floods I was a part of an active local artist group- ‘Jervis Bay and Basin Arts’. We ran a biennial festival called ‘SeeChange’ where I sold works. As a member of the National Association for the Visual Arts I had acquired insurance and so set up my home as a gallery in preparation for an Arts Trail in the Festival, which never eventuated. I would love to see JBBArts awaken once more and SeeChange continue. I will be participating in my first group show since 2020 this September/October in Berry called ‘Artsprings for Wildlife’ in response to the fire devastation. Also, I have just entered a work in ‘Arts in the Valley’. Plus, I have my first music gig since 2019 next month too. I think the arts sector audiences are desperate to see live art and music again! Hooray for 2022!

Visit: https://laomedia.com/ Images: © Vanessa Barbay and © Petra Jungmanova

DAY 16

On the picturesque South Coast of NSW, there are remnants of the infamous Cape St. George Lighthouse on the Cliffs in Jervis Bay, calmly weathering the elements and keeping secrets of its tragic and dark past of the people who carved their lives with their bare hands and buried their loved ones along the way. This is the story of a lighthouse that was built in the wrong place and caused more damage than good in its short existence, while now still providing fantastic adventurous experiences to watch whales as they bring their babies to Jervis Bay every year, or just for the fun of it, to watch sea eagles gracing the blue skies. For me a trip to my beloved Jervis Bay wouldn’t be complete without walking to the magnificent lookout and gazing into the blue yonder! After diving deeper into its dark past, I can understand the magnetism of this strange, wild place. If there were ever a vampire story, like Dracula, to be inspired by a place, this would be it!

I am grateful to the Shoalhaven Council, the Jervis Bay Maritime Museum and the Mitchell Library for their help and co-operation in allowing me access to, and permission to use, their relevant records and photos, and Bridget Sant for allowing me to use excerpts from her fabulous book ‘Lighthouse Tales’ (all proceeds from the sale of which go to the Lady Denman Museum). Without them, this historical Yarn would not be possible.

The ruin of the Cape St George Lighthouse sits on Booderee Aboriginal Land that is managed currently using traditional knowledge, by Parks Australia, together with the Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community. There are conditions of entry and fees to enter the Booderee National Park and it offers a bounty of beaches with crystal-clear waters; camping grounds for anyone wanting to immerse themselves fully into this paradise; and incredible views. So, a trip to the romantic ruins can become one big, amazing adventure just like in the old days! I love to pack a picnic to spend my day in the park with my family -reading books, drawing and dreaming.

Whilst it is a picturesque location today, the Lighthouse, which came into operation in 1860, has a fascinating and grisly history of death and disaster, particularly amongst residents or people associated with it, as the table below shows. This history gave rise to the rumour that the Lighthouse was haunted by evil spirits.

22.8. 1867 Isabella Jane Lee, the daughter of the principal lightkeeper from 1863 to 1873, died of typhus fever - a rare bacterial infection usually spread by parasites.

29.3.1882 Another resident, 13-year-old George Gibson, died from pleurisy, which results in the inflammation of tissue surrounding the lungs and causes pain when breathing.

1882 William Markham, assistant Light Keeper from about 1878 – 1883, was kicked in the head by a horse and died before he was able to reach the hospital in Nowra.

13.11. 1884 Edward William Honer was aged 50 years when he died of dyspepsia. He was a parent to a child or children at New Bristol Half Time School when he co-signed a letter in 1881 to The Minister for Public Instruction complaining about the lack of adequate education for school children locally. Probably a fisherman.

5.7. 1885 Florence Bailey, aged 11 years when she died of Typhus Fever. She was the daughter of the Third Assistant Lightkeeper Edward Bailey. She is buried at Jervis Bay (probably then, New Bristol). Her father, Edward Bailey, supplemented his income by fishing for sharks on the rocks below the Lighthouse. In 1895, he was washed from the rocks. Entangled in his lines in heavy seas, he was taken by sharks as his sons watched in horror.

14.7.1887 Harriet Parker, aged 19 ½ years. Kate Gibson, the Principal Lightkeeper’s teenage daughter, tripped while skylarking with a loaded firearm. The gun discharged, striking her friend Harriet Parker (the Assistant Lightkeeper’s daughter) in the back of the skull, killing her instantly. Her gravesite can be found in the Green Patch camping area.

15.1. 1895 Edward Bailey, Third Assistant Light Keeper; died after being taken by sharks and his body was not recovered.

1895 Francis Henry Hammer, the son of Mary Hammer (a single woman who lived at the Lighthouse), had a habit of pushing large rocks over the cliff edge to amuse himself. However, he tragically met his end when he either toppled over or lost his footing when part of the cliff collapsed. He was only nine or ten years old.

As mentioned, the tragedy of the Lighthouse was not restricted to its residents, but also impacted on the ships it was supposed to be guiding. Some of the ships lost during its operation include:

1864 ‘Mynora’, a wooden paddle steamer went ashore; gave rise to the name of ‘Steamers Beach’.

1870 ‘Walter Hood’, a clipper ship sailing from London; driven ashore in a storm with survivors clinging to the wreck for three days - 12 lives lost.

1870 ‘Summer Cloud’, a three masted wooden barque; driven ashore at what is known as ‘Summer Cloud Cove’.

1870 ‘Maid of Riverton’, was employed in the salvage of the Summer Cloud; was lost as well, being forced ashore at Currumbene Creek.

1874 ‘Rose of Australia’, a wooden brig; ran ashore near St Georges Head.

1874 ‘Mary’ ran ashore in Wreck Bay with a faulty compass; gave her name to ‘Mary Cove’.

1876 ‘Dandenong’, a sailing steamer; went down in a gale off Jervis Bay - 28 people were rescued and 55 drowned.

1878 ‘Chimborazo’, a steamship; ran into Point Perpendicular in fog and was holed. She was ‘en route’ to Sydney to pick up the first representative cricket team and take them to England. The cricketers had to find other transport and only just arrived in time.

1882 ‘Plutus’, a collier; ran aground at Currarong.

1885 ‘Corangamite’, a lavishly appointed new steel steamer; ran aground in fog on the south-west side of St Georges Head.

The location of the Lighthouse has been a matter for debate and enquiry for nearly 150 years. Examination of official letters and the minutes of the enquiry into its site suggest that the error occurred because of undue haste, incompetence, possibly even corruption, and probably cover up. There are two parts of the story. The first is how Cape St George, or the southern headland of Jervis Bay, was selected over the northern headland (Point Perpendicular). The second is how the Lighthouse was then not built in the spot selected on the southern headland.

The Site Selection and Construction

This was period of considerable change in the four Australian colonies. There was growing trade, increased shipping along dangerous coastlines (many shipwrecks) and more ports. The need for lighthouses was recognised but there was still uncertainty and dispute how they should be funded. Each of the four eastern colonies (NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia) wanted to pass on the cost either to others, the Colonial Office, or the shipping companies.

Merion Moriarty, the Port Master of NSW, first raised the need for a lighthouse in 1852 when he wrote to the Colonial Secretary, suggesting: ‘…. lights should be placed upon the northern entrance to Jervis Bay, Nobby Island, the Solitary Isles, and Moreton Bay without any delay.’ Nothing happened in the following two years, so he wrote again in 1855 and the next day he received a reply: ‘Very well, let an estimate be made for lights upon Solitary Isles and the northern entrance to Jervis Bay’.

Against this background a Conference (like a modern Commission) was convened in Melbourne in 1856. At this Conference, plans were begun to build a new lighthouse at Jervis Bay. Eighteen mariners (ship’s masters and coastal traders) were asked by the Commissioners which headland they preferred. Fourteen nominated Cape St. George in preference to the northern headland on the Beecroft Peninsula at either Crocodile Head or Point Perpendicular. The Conference subsequently recommended Cape St. George, ignoring the views of Moriarty who favoured Beecroft.

Shortly after the Under Secretary for Lands and Public Works appointed the colonial architect, Alexander Dawson, to work with the Assistant Surveyor, E P Millington to determine a suitable site on Cape St. George. When Dawson and Millington returned from their inspection, they produced a sketch map, loosely representing the Cape St. George headland. On it they had marked two sites that they thought suitable for the construction of a lighthouse. These they marked S and T. Dawson then wrote a letter to the Secretary for Lands and Public Works outlining the merits of each site and that he recommended site S, four miles south of Jervis Bay. The recommendation of site S was approved.

A tender to build the Lighthouse submitted by Messrs. Wray and French was accepted on 30 August 1859. Due to the inadequacies of Dawson and Millington’s survey and map, the contractors were faced with uncertainty and requested the Colonial Architect’s Office to send someone from Sydney to show them where to build. With the site ‘confirmed’, it was possible for work to commence. A few months later the building was complete.

The 3-storey Lighthouse was built of sandstone blocks quarried near the present-day Jervis Bay Village. The Tower was situated about a mile north of Cape St George. It was 53 feet high from the ground to the base of the lantern, or 61 feet from top to bottom (considerably higher than Point Perpendicular which is 44 feet high to the top of the walling). It was divided into three storeys and was circular in plan, with an internal diameter of 10 feet. The walls were 3 1/2 feet thick at the base, tapering to 2 feet at the top. For the construction, sandstone blocks were dressed on both sides and bedded in lime mortar. The floors were timber. From the tower entrance, a stone staircase led up to the first floor and access to the upper storeys was by internal staircases built of iron. The gallery around the lantern was also sandstone, with a wrought iron rail. An oil store was attached to the living quarters built at the base of the tower.

The light itself was different from others on the East Coast in that it had red, green and white lights alternating at half minute intervals. The coloured lights distinguished it from neighbouring lights but were not so clearly visible from a distance. Despite being accepted as only a temporary measure Cape St George operated for another 39 years. During this time, many ships were lost in and near Wreck Bay, disasters that the light could have prevented if it had been sighted correctly. There appear to have been more wrecks rather than fewer, defeating the purpose of building a light to protect seafarers.

The light was finally extinguished in 1899 when the new lighthouse on Point Perpendicular was completed; the lamp was removed and used in the Crookhaven Lighthouse. In 1904 the Navy (the Australian Squadron of the British Royal Navy) was instructed to shell the tower because it was still proving a danger to shipping.

Even before completion, there were rumblings of discontent marking the start of a period of blame and evasion. Alexander Dawson had visited the site in June 1860 and tested the newly completed light, reporting that it had been built in the correct spot and that the works had been completed in a most satisfactory manner. However, Dawson was strongly contradicted by the newly appointed Principal Keeper, W B S Griffin, who also inspected the site in June and reported that the angle of clear vision was considerably less than he had been led to believe. Following these misgivings, seven members of the Pilot Board were despatched to make their inspection commenting that Dawson and Millington’s map contained ‘discrepancies so grave that it is almost impossible to decide whether either position marked on the map really exists’.

All this led, on 12 February 1861, to a Select Committee of the Legislative Assembly of NSW being appointed under the Chairmanship of Merion Moriarty, ‘to enquire into all the circumstances connected with the erection of the lighthouse near Jervis Bay’. Further details of this intriguing enquiry can be found in Bridget Sant’s book: Lighthouse Tales.

The Lighthouse Life

Getting stores to the Lighthouse was always difficult with the nearest landing place over 2 ½ miles away at Murrays Beach. Horses were needed for transporting mail and supplies and taking the children to and from school. One of the contractors offered to sell his good horse and cart to the first Head Keeper so that fuel for the light and all the domestic requirements could be transported more easily. Keeping a horse permanently was not easy as there was a shortage of grass for feed. On the other hand, goats were better suited to the terrain and were kept for milking, with some for meat for consumption and others as bait for catching sharks that were caught to supplement both diet and income.

From 1860 to 1877 up to 15 people including the Lighthouse Keeper, 2 Under-Keepers and their families lived in the living quarters which were provided originally in a block of single storey buildings round the tower, which rose from the centre of them. Three rooms were provided for the Head Keeper, and two for each of the Under Keepers, inclusive of kitchens. The walls were also of sandstone, dressed on both sides. The roof was of stone flagging laid flat, supported on cast iron girders and covered on top with asphalt. Additional rooms and verandas for the two Under Keepers were added later. A weatherboard cottage on hardwood piles, containing seven rooms, was erected near the stables for the Head Keeper in 1877.

One of the most intact buildings still present today is the double latrine (toilet) building with a wonderfully exposed and draughty outfall down the cliff face. This building drains directly out and over the nearby cliff face and is an excellent example of the strict attention to sanitation that was required in such a remote location. It is likely that it was divided into male and female sections.

The kitchen and laundry building probably was erected around 1865 as ‘a store for the men’s provisions, a wash house and an oven, with a boiling copper for the establishment’. It provided much needed space as previously everything, including living quarters for the three Lightkeeper’s families, had been housed in the original Lighthouse building.

Accidents & Misadventures

As mentioned previously, during the 39 years the Lighthouse operated there were many premature deaths of children and adults with several of the children dying from illnesses. Isolation and shortages of medicines meant that survival depended on careful nursing and luck. Here, in more detail, are a few examples:

Harriet Parker

The fate of Harriet was undoubtedly tragic. She arrived at Cape St George as a child, growing up roaming the Peninsula with friends and living a simple life. In 1887 she died in strange and dramatic circumstances as recorded at a coronial inquiry into her death. The statement made by Harriet’s friend Gibson, who went with her on the faithful day to look for a horse for Annie Parker, sums up the whole tragic incident: ‘Yesterday morning Harriet Parker sent her sister down to ask me if I would like to go with her for the horses; I said I would; we left here about ten o’clock ; going along the beach , I said to her, “what a pity we did not bring some lunch”; we came to Mc Phail’s hut; (a local fisherman living on the beach in New Bristol); we found the key and went inside; I lit the fire, and put on the kettle, and asked Harriet to go and get some wood; during her absence I put on one of McPhail’s hat’s, which covered the whole of my face, and I took up the gun that was lying in the corner of the kitchen; I was going out at the door when I met Harriet at the door; she tripped and fell down , and was laughing; I heard what I thought was cap going off; I then pulled off the hat , and saw her fall; I went to her, and called her by her name, and lifted her up; I thought she had fainted; when I lifted her; I saw blood running from her head; I then let her down again, and came home and told my father; when I took up the gun I didn’t know if it was cocked or not; I do not remember cocking it; I do not remember hearing the report of the gun; Harriet and I were always on the best of term; Donald McPhail is a neighbour of ours, and there was no other house within nine or ten miles; I am sixteen years and seven months old.’

Edward Bailey

Edward arrived at the lighthouse after the death of William Markham as the Third Assistant Light Keeper. On his meagre salary he had to support a wife and eleven children. He was in the habit of supplementing his income and family’s diet by catching sharks. He used to entice the sharks to the shore by feeding them goat meat. (Goats were one of the few domestic animals that could survive on the scrubby vegetation at Cape St George. At some point a herd of goats was placed on Bowen Island, eliminating the need for fencing. They were not removed until late in the 20th century.) Unfortunately, on one occasion when Edward was fishing off the rocks, he was washed off by a huge wave. His feet became tangled in his line and after a short struggle he was pulled under, feet first. Two of his sons, age 10 and 6 witnessed his struggle and disappearance and knew there was no hope of recovering his body. It would have been so quickly devoured by sharks; the boys had seen three in the area at the time of the accident.

Educating the Children

The well-known Shoalhaven painter, Samuel Elyard, made several visits, recording some in his diary (a visit in 1877). Elyard was the Shoalhaven’s most prolific and best-known nineteenth century artist. His paintings provide us with earliest known depictions of many sites. His work dealt mainly with scenes of the Shoalhaven area, predominantly in water colour. He also visited in the 1890s after he had become a keen photographer. In 1877 he published the following article in the Town and Country Journal, describing his trips in 1870 and 1877.Each of the families at the Lighthouse had several children - the Baileys had eleven. From about 1870 until 1899 when the Lighthouse closed there was a school at New Bristol where these children were educated. The school was not always at the same location and, for a time after people moved aways from the New Bristol settlement, the school was located in a paddock at the Lighthouse. It may have been at this time that the children had tutors who rode out from Nowra. New Bristol (situated between Murrays Beach and Hole-in-the-Wall) had a Half Time Public School, sharing a teacher, Mr. Jeston, with North Huskisson Half Time School. On 7th August 1873 the Inspector General visited both schools and reported:

‘Number of pupils enrolled; Boys 17 Girls 10 Total 27

Number present at examination; Boys 14 Girls 10 Total 24

These schools are at Jervis Bay and about 12 miles apart. There are no out-offices nor fencing at either place; but the school rooms are suitable and well supplied with furniture, apparatus and books. The general discipline is satisfactory. Singing is not taught; but the progress of the scholars in other branches is fair.’

At times the schools were poorly resourced or needing repairs. Henry Gibson, the Principal Keeper, was a member of the local board and parent of pupils at the school. He wrote several times to the Council of Education in Sydney asking for money for repairs or for extra salary for Mr. Jeston and his wife. In 1881 he and three other parents wrote to the Minister for Public Instruction applying for a full-time school. The school had three locations, getting closer to the Lighthouse each time. In 1876, there were more children in the area between Telegraph Creek and Murrays Beach. Their families supplied whaling and other ships with fresh water and other supplies. By 1889 the only children at the school were from the Lighthouse and so the school was relocated there. The school closed in 1899 when the Lighthouse ceased to operate.