Point King Lighthouse

Point King Lighthouse

The Point King Lighthouse was built in 1858 in the hope of bring­ing more passenger steamers and mail ships to the Port of Albany.

King George Sound is an ex­cell­ent all weather harb­our but the out­ly­ing islands and narrow ent­r­ance to Princess Royal Harb­our some­times made naviga­tion difficult.

Follow­ing the Crimean War, the Brit­ish Govern­ment offer­ed to built two lighthouses, one at Point King and the other on Breaksea Island.

The lights were pre­fabricat­ed and arriv­ed in June 1857, with build­ing start­ing soon after.  The Point King lighthouse became opera­tion­al on 1st Janu­ary, 1858, making it only the second lighthouse built on the WA coast.

From 1858 until 1911 the resid­ent light house keepers and their famil­ies tend­ed the light each even­ing.  Samuel Mitchell was the long­est serv­ing, from 1867 until 1903.

In 1913, the lighthouse was auto­mat­ed, and with keepers no longer requir­ed, the site was left vacant.  Per­haps due to its ex­pos­ed posi­tion and lack of daily care, the lighthouse rapidly degrad­ed, fail­ing some­time around 1915.

In 1893, as part of the Princess Royal Fortress coast­al defence, a 6-inch gun em­place­ment and under­ground mag­a­zine were con­struct­ed nearby.  The con­crete mount and bunkers are still visible today.

In 1913 the lighthouse was auto­mat­ed, and with keepers no longer requir­ed, the site was left vacant.

Today, the Point King Lighthouse is a ruin, locat­ed at the tip of Point King.  The roof­less 4-room stone and render­ed build­ing features a centr­al hall­way and brickwork details around the doors.  Empty windows stare into the dis­t­ant past.

The ruins pre­s­ent an ideal photo­graphic opportun­ity to capt­ure the rugg­ed coastl­ine of King George Sound and the rich maritime hist­ory of West­ern Australia's first settle­ment.

Point King can be reach­ed from the Ellen Cove Boardwalk and is near the Attaturk Mem­ori­al.  Please take care as the coast can be un­pre­dict­able.

updated 01/11/2019


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