The traitorous lighthouse: how a life-saving tower became a nightmare in the Tasman Sea (14 photos)

For over forty years, a lighthouse stood on a vast, anvil-shaped peninsula jutting out into the Tasman Sea off Jervis Bay in southern Australia. It stood in the wrong place, luring unsuspecting ships right onto the very rocks they were trying to avoid.





The cliffs around Cape St. George, south of Jervis Bay, were notorious for shipwrecks, so in the mid-19th century, it was decided to build a lighthouse to ensure safe navigation along the coast.



In 1857, colonial architect Alexander Dawson and his assistant, surveyor E.F. Millington, began searching for a suitable site for a lighthouse on Cape St. George. Unfortunately, Dawson was more concerned with ease of construction than the effectiveness of the future navigational aid. When the Board of Pilots, the oversight body, went to inspect the chosen site, it was discovered that the site was not visible from the necessary approaches.





It also emerged that the map prepared by Millington and Dawson contained "such serious inconsistencies that it is impossible to determine whether any of the positions marked on it actually exist." The council also suspected that Dawson chose the site solely because of its proximity to a quarry from which he planned to obtain building material.



Despite glaring planning flaws and the objections of the majority of the council, its chairman, for unknown reasons, sanctioned the lighthouse's construction. Over the next four decades, this poorly positioned lighthouse, invisible from both the northern and southern approaches to Jervis Bay, was the cause of nearly two dozen shipwrecks. Ultimately, in 1899, it was replaced by another lighthouse, located in a much more suitable location for this stretch of coastline.



Even after its decommissioning, the old lighthouse continued to pose navigational challenges, especially on moonlit nights, when the golden sandstone tower glowed in the darkness. Therefore, at the turn of the century, the tower was completely demolished to prevent further disasters.



The Cape St. George Lighthouse proved fatal not only to ships but also to its keepers. A series of tragedies seemed to haunt everyone who lived there. One keeper drowned while fishing, another was kicked in the head by a horse and died. The most talked-about incident was the death of two teenagers: the girls were playing with a loaded gun when a shot went off, killing one of them.



The ruins of the St. George Lighthouse are now protected by the state due to their unique history.







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