Bustard Head Light, Lighthouse in Eurimbula, Gladstone Region, Queensland, Australia
Bustard Head Light is a cast iron lighthouse on a headland in the Gladstone Region of Queensland, topped with a red lantern and a viewing platform. It stands on a promontory above the sea and is surrounded by the original keeper's quarters and outbuildings.
The lighthouse entered service in 1868, making it one of the oldest still-standing lighthouses in Queensland. It was built to guide ships along a stretch of coast that was seeing growing traffic as the region developed into an important port area.
Bustard Head was named by Captain James Cook in 1770 after a bustard shot and eaten by his landing party there. One of the two keeper's houses now serves as a display of lighthouse artefacts, while the other is occupied by a site manager. About 300 metres northeast of the station, a white picket fence encloses a cemetery with nine graves dating from 1879 to 1911 and two unmarked child-sized graves.
The station can be reached by boat only, about 20 km northwest of Seventeen Seventy, inside Eurimbula National Park. Tours of the site and tower run daily. The light is operated by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority and the site is managed by the Bustard Head Lighthouse Association. A cemetery with nine graves from 1879 to 1911 lies about 300 m northeast of the station.
Although the tower is made of cast iron, it was manufactured in sections and assembled on site, a construction method that was common for remote coastal locations at the time. This assembly approach is still visible today in the joints between the tower's sections.
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