Name: Macquarie Lighthouse
Location: Vaucluse, Sydney, NSW
A prominent Sydney landmark, the Macquarie Lightstation, is the site of the earliest lighthouse in Australia and is the longest-serving lightstation in Australia. The present lighthouse was designed by James Barnet and completed in 1883 as a copy of an earlier lighthouse designed by Francis Greenway completed in 1818. The site contains the 1883 Barnet lighthouse, the Head Keepers Quarters, the Assistant Keepers Quarters, the remains of the stone-built Engineers and Assistants Quarters, Greenway’s 1816-1817 retaining wall, the recently constructed townhouses and the archaeological deposits and potential sites relating to all phases of its occupation.
The Macquarie Lightstation is listed on the Commonwealth Heritage List and is one of a number of foreshore properties owned and managed by the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust (the Harbour Trust) on behalf of the Commonwealth. The lighthouse remains a working maritime safety structure that is leased and managed by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.
The detailed Conservation Management Plan was prepared to inform the Harbour Trust’s Management Plan for the place, to manage, care and conserve the significance of the lightstation.
Photograph: Detail from 1890s photograph of the Lighthouse and Assistant Keeper’s Cottage by John Harvey Henry, State Library of Victoria
