| Historical notes: | Green Cape is traditionally part of the Yuin nation and is the land of the Thaua people. The land occupied by the Thaua group stretches from Merimbula in the north, to Green Cape in the south, and west to the Dividing Range and has traditionally been divided between two groups -the Katungal (coastal) and the Baianbal/Paienbara (forest) people.
First contact between the European explorers and the Aboriginal people of the far southern region of NSW occurred in 1798 when Matthew Flinders visited Twofold Bay, south of Eden. On this exploratory journey, Flinders made reference to Green Point or, as he called it then, 'the Cape'. Permanent European settlement of the region did not, however, begin until the 1830s and 1840s when the pastoralist and whaling industries developed at Twofold Bay.
"Twofold Bay afforded the potential for raising stock on unoccupied Crown Land in the vicinity of a commodious harbour" (NPWS, 'Ben Boyd National Park Bicentennial Project', p75) and it quickly became a commercial and trading centre during the mid-nineteenth century. The Imlay brothers were the first settlers to permanently occupy the area from the late 1830s and established a pastoral and whaling company in the region.
The developing industries around Twofold Bay soon revealed the potential of the region and began attracting competition for the Imlay brothers. The British entrepreneur Ben Boyd arrived and went about establishing his own commercial empire during the 1840s - the ambitious but short-lived 'Boyd Town'. By the time Boyd had entered the whaling industry, the once thriving business was reaching the end of its boom period - the Imlay brothers had fallen victim to the economic depression in the late 1840s and, by 1849, Boyd too had abandoned his pastoral lands following the collapse of his empire.
Although whaling had not been a sustainable industry in the region, the Green Cape area was a notable point in the shipping trade along the NSW coastline. A prominent natural headland projecting out into Disaster Bay, Green Cape was a known obstacle for passing ships. Since shipping had accelerated following the gold rush of the 1850s, the entire NSW coastline in fact had been regarded as dangerous and increasingly treacherous. Despite the first lighthouse being constructed at South Head in 1818, it was some 40 years before the government systematically began installing light stations along the coast.
Initially, consideration was only given to the north coast of NSW but, by 1872, the entire coastline was under review. Captain Francis Hixson, President of the Marine Board of NSW, famously proclaimed "that he wanted the NSW coast 'illuminated like a street with lamps' " (NPWS 'Lighthouse Keeping (Part A)', p15). Hixson was ultimately successful in achieving his vision - by the early twentieth century, the 'highway of lights' was complete with 25 coastal lighthouses and 12 in Sydney Harbour. The late nineteenth century had proven to be the most productive period for lighthouse construction in NSW.
At the 1873 conference of the Principal Officers of Marine Departments of the Australian Colonies, it was resolved (on Captain Hixson's motion) that a light station be erected at Green Cape. It was not until 1879, however, that 17,000 pounds was reserved for its construction.
With an approved design by the colonial architect James Barnet, a tender of 12,936 pounds was accepted from Albert Wood Aspinall to build a mass concrete tower for the lighthouse, three associated residential structures and a number of service buildings. Aspinall also received an additional 357 pounds for essential works at Bittangabee Bay.
Due to the isolation of the selected light station construction site, access was only achievable from Bittangabee Bay and any materials, equipment, goods or labour were received here before being transported 7km by horse-drawn tram to the light station. Aspinall started work at Bittangabee Bay in late 1880 with the construction of a jetty, storehouse and a wooden tramway from the port to the Green Cape site.
The construction of a light station at Green Cape was considered essential and the project was ambitious from its beginnings. Concrete construction was a bold initiative for the period and Green Cape Light station was the one of the earliest and most extensive concrete constructions ever attempted in Australia and the tallest in NSW at the time. Prior to 1880, some small houses were built using concrete but no public buildings, and certainly none as substantial as the Green Cape, had been constructed using the material.
Work began in 1881 but Aspinall soon encountered significant difficulties that led to increasing delays and an extension of the budget to over 18,000 pounds. A 20-foot thick clay bed required extensive excavation and, with drifting sand continually covering the tramway and building foundations, the demanding circumstances of the build led to the eventual financial collapse of Aspinall's career. Ultimately, the Green Cape Light station was completed by his creditors and was fully operational, with a kerosene-powered light visible for 35km, by 1883. The final cost for the lighthouse was 19,388 pounds, 8 shillings and 9 pence.
The newly completed Green Cape Light station was in this functional state on May 30th, 1886 - the night of the Ly-ee-Moon disaster. On a clear, calm night en-route from Melbourne to Sydney, the paddle-steamer ran full-speed into rocks at the base of the lighthouse and quickly broke apart. Seventy-one lives were lost in the sinking - one of the greatest losses of human life in a single shipwreck in the state's history. Fifteen men (ten crew and five passengers) survived the shipwreck but only 24 bodies were ever recovered and buried in unmarked graves in a small cemetery a short distance from the light station.
The wreck of the Ly-ee-Moon is considered to be one of NSW's worst maritime disasters but the far south coast of NSW has been responsible for a number of shipwrecks since the nineteenth century. Often caused by heavy seas and rough weather, Disaster Bay has become "a veritable graveyard" of ships (Francis Scott, p2).
Throughout the twentieth century, the Green Cape Light station underwent the same technical advancements as did all coastal lighthouses in Australia. With responsibility transferred to the Commonwealth in 1911, the light station was converted from kerosene to electricity in 1962 and gradually de-manned over the next 30 years. Since being replaced by a new and fully automatic lighthouse in 1994, the station has become a tourist destination and is being increasingly recognised for its heritage values. In 2009, Green Cape Light station was designated a National Engineering Heritage Landmark - the first lighthouse to be accorded this level of recognition in Australia. |