I took these images of Macquarie lighthouse in Sydney from 5th to 7th November 1987, months later than images in preceding posts.

The original Macquarie lighthouse, built in 1818, was Australia’s first lighthouse,  although an iron basket had been erected nearby on a tripod in 1794, initially burning wood and then coal from 1797.   The lighthouse was commissioned by Governor Macquarie and designed by convict architect Francis Greenaway, who warned at a very early stage that the sandstone used would soon crumble.  Several large stones fell from arches in 1823 and starting from that year, a succession of iron bands were wrapped around the lighthouse for support.

When it became necessary to instal a larger optic, they replaced the lighthouse, building a new one beside the old.  This is what you see today, dating from 1881.  The design closely follows the original lighthouse, apart from a larger lantern room at the top.  My guess is that the lighthouse cottage behind it also dates from 1881.

The lighthouse at night, as lit by various lights.  The original slide was technically compromised, fogged and with banding in the sky.  Rescuing it produced some strange colours so that a high-contrast black and white was the only feasible option.

The first lighthouse keeper was Robert Watson, who had been a bosun on one of the ships of the First Fleet.

Here we can see that when the weather closes in, visibility is low and it is difficult to see the lighthouse.  I wanted this image to go into the book to make that point but was overruled.

In 1857 the sailing ship Dunbar foundered at the base of this cliff, notwithstanding the presence of the earlier lighthouse.  A total of 121 passengers and crew drowned.  There was just one survivor who managed to reach safety at the foot of the cliffs and he was not discovered for two days.

The lighthouse contains a few remarkable architectural embellishments.   Here is the New South Wales flag on the floor at the entrance of the lighthouse.

This is a brass door handle inside the lantern room.

Here is the bulb and fresnel lenses inside the optic, which was large enough to stand up inside.  Lots of fisheye distortion here.

The weather had greatly improved during the day and this was an important lighthouse so I stayed to try again for another night.  This was the night of the full moon, which is the source of light for these exposures.

The white lines in the sky are star trails.  In the distance are ships anchored or moving.  The waves are washing in and out during the long exposure.

To get to this position, I climbed over the railing and down to a platform where I had been the previous night and where I was not visible from above.  I stayed there the whole night, trying different exposures from time to time.

So here we are, and it’s half an hour before dawn on the morning of the 7th of November 1987.  This is the image displayed on the front cover of the book.