Tasman Island, Tasman
TASMAN ISLAND

The Tasman Island Light Station consists of the cast iron tower, three keepers’ quarters, a fuel store, remnants of the haulage way, winch house, timber landing, flying fox, and several other minor building remnants. All the standing structures on the island date from 1905.   The lighthouse is 29 metres high and sits prominently on the highest point of the island 276 metres above sea level making it the highest operating lighthouse in Australia. It is a pre-fabricated construction of curved cast-iron plates, bolted together and positioned on a concrete base seven metres in diameter.   In 1976 the upper portion of the lantern room, including lens, pedestal and clockwork rotation mechanism, was removed. A new lantern was installed on top of the old lantern base and the light was converted to wind-electric operation. In 1991 it was converted to solar-electric.  Quarters No.1, the Superintendent’s Quarters, has seven rooms and is the most northerly of the standing houses, and is also known as ‘The Bottom House’. Quarters No.2 is one of two identical Assistant Keepers’ Quarters, also known as ‘The Middle House’. Quarters No.3 is the second of the Assistant Keepers’ Quarters, the southernmost house, also known as ‘The Top House’. Both these cottages have six rooms. The Oil Store is a small brick storage building, the southernmost standing structure on the island.   The houses and the Oil Store are solidly constructed with red brick cavity walls. The hardwood-framed roofs were originally clad with corrugated iron, but this was later replaced with corrugated asbestos cement sheeting. Distinctive arched window and door openings, glazed verandahs and decorative gable, central to the main façade, still define the external appearance of the houses, although sections of the verandahs have fallen into disrepair and some of the brickwork arches have been replaced with concrete lintels.    Internally, all three houses have hardwood floors and plastered walls with wide, decorative Victorian architraves and skirtings. Originally the houses had arched mantelpieces, four-panel doors and Baltic Pine ceilings. The latter remain in place, covered with false ceilings of hardwood, but the doors have been replaced, probably in the early 1960s, with plywood-faced flush doors.     The Oil Store is approximately 40 square metres in area and rectangular in plan, with a simple hipped corrugated iron roof and concrete floors. It echoes the style of the houses, with red brick walls and arched door and window heads.   All four buildings underwent ‘modernisation’ c.1960 including the laying of linoleum throughout the living quarters.   There are remnants of a flying fox from Anchor Rock to the timber landing, and of the cable haulage system that runs from the landing up to top of the island. These are located on the north-east corner of the Island and are included in this listing. Several of the original building timber buildings collapsed after Tasman Island was ‘demanned’ in 1977, notably the Relief Keeper’s Quarters which was the first building erected on Tasman Island in 1904 and used as the Clerk of Works Office. Any other original timber buildings had long since been replaced by later structures such as the Winch House (c.1929), Stables and Generator Shed (c.1955), all of which are now collapsed.   Items that are not of historic heritage significance include the array of solar panels mounted on the ground near the tower base and the concrete slab that serves as a helipad located approximately 100 metres west of the lighthouse.