The cultural significance of the lighthouse resides in its fabric, and also in its intangible aspects – such as the meanings people ascribe to it, and the connections to other places and things. The survival of its cultural value depends on a well-informed understanding of what is significant, and on clear thinking about the consequences of change. The Burra Charter[34] sets out good practice for conserving cultural significance.
Criterion under 'Heritage Significance' refer to the criterion satisfied within the specific Commonwealth heritage listing (see section 5.1).
All images included in sub-section 4.1 and 4.2 – Source: AMSA.
Lighthouse feature: Lantern roof
Photograph of white lighthouse lantern room and balcony.Photograph of underside of lantern roof. Shows exposed cast metal ribs.
Recent 16-sided pyramidal roof of glass-reinforced-plastic panels on 1845 cast metal ribs and top ring.
Ribs – cast metal ribs
Inner skin – none
Ventilator – recent GRP replica of ball type ventilator, without ventilation holes
Wind vane – none
Lightning conductor – single spike on top of ventilator
Gutter – none
| Significance: | original fabric: highother parts: low |
The original cast metal ribs and top ring are an original part of the lighthouse – they maintain significance due to the lighthouse being the oldest of the Bass Strait lighthouses (and by being one of only 4 extant pre-1850 lighthouses) (criterion a, criterion b).
The lantern roof contributes to the aesthetic value of the lighthouse (criterion e).
Polygonal in form, with 16 sides. The vertical astragals extend from a base ring at lantern floor level up to the lantern roof – there is no separate lantern base.
Panes – flat rectangular glass. Two tiers of glass, with narrow tier of blank plywood panels above, and wider tier of blank panels below (forming the lantern base, see below). One landward face is blanked off by a timber framed and sheeted door in which is inset a cast iron frame for the balcony door.
Astragals – vertical astragals of moulded profile with thickenings at intersections with horizontal astragals and at top and bottom. Horizontal astragals of similar moulded section. Uppermost horizontal astragal (which separates a tier of blank panels from glass panes) is a later addition.
Handholds – one on each vertical astragal, fixed to cover strips.
Emergency panes – set of emergency panes in metal frames, with copper alloy fixing bolts, are stored in the tower below the lantern room.
Finish:
blanking panels, astragals and glazing strips: painted
Condition:
intact and sound
Integrity:
high
Significance:
high
Maintenance:
keep in service, reglaze as necessaryprepare and repaint at normal intervals
Rectification works:
none
The lantern glazing is an essential part of the lighthouse – it maintains its significance due to the lighthouse being the oldest of the Bass Strait lights, and due to being one of only four (4) extant pre-1850 lighthouses (criterion a, criterion b).
The lantern glazing contributes to the aesthetic value of the lighthouse (criterion e).
Lighthouse feature: Lantern base
Photograph of white lantern house sitting on grey balcony.Photograph of small door hatch fitted to white lantern house. Door is opened out onto the balcony.
Formed by the bottom tier of the lantern glazing which has been re-fitted with blank panels (originally fully glazed).
Vents – recent cast cowls fitted over round vent holes in blanking panels.
Door – cast iron frame and door inset into the bottom of a timber framed and sheeted door. The door is secured by two hand-wheels on pivoting studs which engage with projecting lugs on the frame.
| Significance: | blank panels and vents: lowother parts: high |
The lantern base is an essential part of the lighthouse – it maintains its significance due to the lighthouse being the oldest of the Bass Strait lights, and due to it being one of only four extant pre-1850 lighthouses in Tasmania (criterion a, criterion b).
Original lantern base was formed within the top of the existing masonry tower walls. Fixing positions of the original internal catwalk brackets into the masonry walls are visible.
Vents – original round vent openings still exist through masonry walls at this level. They are fitted with circular brass regulators. Only one regulator is original, others were replaced in 2012.
Door – there was no door in the original lantern base and the balcony was accessed through the existing doors in the lantern glazing from the internal catwalk.
Finish:
masonry wall: bare renderpedestal: painted
Condition:
there is fretting of the top course of sandstone masonry on the internal face, otherwise sound
Integrity:
high
Significance:
high
Maintenance:
keep in service, prepare and repaint at normal intervals
Rectification works:
none
The lantern base is an essential and original part of the lighthouse – it maintains its significance due to the lighthouse being the oldest of the Bass Strait lights, and due to it being one of only four extant pre-1850 lighthouses in Tasmania (criterion a, criterion b).
Recent floor of compressed fibre-cement sheet on frame of galvanised steel rectangular hollow sections (RHS) sections bolted together. The frame sits on the top of the tower wall around the edge, and on a central RHS column.
Access opening – rectangular, with expanded metal mesh cover.
1845 slate slab floor supported on the tower wall and cornice.
Finish:
painted
Condition:
some damage around balustrade stanchion fixings from previous arrangement, otherwise intact and sound
Integrity:
high
Significance:
high
Maintenance:
keep in servicemaintain joint seals, prepare and repaint at normal intervals
Rectification works:
none
The balcony floor is both an essential and original part of the lighthouse. It maintains its significance due to the lighthouse being the odlest of the Bass Strait lights – and due to it being one of only four extant pre-1850 lighthouses in Tasmania (criterion a, criterion b).
1845 stone walls, probably originally with exposed rock faced stone in courses with finely dressed freestone cornice courses at the top. It has render and stucco coatings inside and out, probably a later modification. Internal projecting ledges indicate probable earlier locations of intermediate floors, since removed.
Finish:
painted
Condition:
intact and sound
Integrity:
high
Significance:
high
Maintenance:
keep in service, prepare and paint at normal intervalsmonitor condition of pointing and stonework
Rectification works:
none
The tower walls are both original and essential parts of the lighthouse. They maintain significance due to the lighthouse being the oldest of the Bass Strait lights, and due to it being one of only four extant pre-1850 lighthouses in Tasmania (criterion a, criterion b).
The tower walls contribute to the aesthetic value of the lighthouse (criterion e).
The tower walls (with its rubble base and shaft with contrasting smooth freestone capital) exemplifies a unique design and form of construction (criterion f).
Lighthouse feature: Windows
Photograph showing white lighthouse tower with five window openings cut into tower.Photograph showing window fitted into stone wall.
original openings: highrecent sashes and frames: low
Maintenance:
keep in service, replace broken panes as required
Rectification works:
none
Six original window openings with fixed glazing in stainless steel sashes and frames.
The original window openings are an essential part of the lighthouse. They maintain significance due to the lighthouse being the oldest of the Bass Strait lights, and due to its being one of only four extant pre-1850 lighthouses in Tasmania (criterion a, criterion b)
The tower windows contribute to the aesthetic value of the lighthouse (criterion e)
Lighthouse feature: Door
Photograph showing a door fitted into the base of a white lighthouse tower. Photograph showing entry door standing ajar to reveal small lighthouse entrance room. Photograph showing entry door closed.
1845 door opening. Later timber framed and sheeted door with stainless steel vent cover, hung in timber door frame. Secured with hasp and staple and CLS padlock. Stainless lock box added to door in 2011 after illegal entry took place.
| Condition: | sound |
| Integrity: | medium |
The original door opening is an essential part of the lighthouse. It maintains significance due to the lighthouse being the oldest of the Bass Strait lights, and due to it being one of only four extant pre-1850 lighthouses in Tasmania (criterion a, criterion b).
Lighthouse feature: Intermediate floors
Photograph showing underside of a curved half-floor supported by beams.Photograph showing underside of a curved half-floor supported by beams and a central column.
Photograph of grey half floor. Lattice staircase fixed to floor.Photograph of grey half-floor.
Two intermediate landings, of slate slabs carried on rolled iron beams built into the tower walls.
Original intermediate floors at lower levels have been removed when the cast iron stair was installed, but their positions are marked by projecting ledges inside the tower walls.
The intermediate floors are an essential part of the lighthouse. They maintain significance due to the lighthouse being the oldest of the Bass Strait lights, and due to it being one of only four extant pre-1850s lighthouses in Tasmania (criterion a, criterion b).
Cast iron spiral stair integrated with central weight tube/column, rising from the ground floor to a floor two storeys below the lantern floor. The stair structure is free-standing, independent of the stone tower.
Cast iron treads/riser units with lattice treads are bolted to one another and to the weight tube, the connecting bolts extend vertically as balusters supporting a wrought iron handrail on the outside of the flight.
A separate flight of stairs, with a wrought iron outer string, leads from the lower intermediate floor to the one below the lantern floor.
The internal tower stairs are an essential part of the lighthouse. They maintain their significance due to the lighthouse being the oldest of the Bass Strait lights, and due to it being one of only four extant pre-1850 lighthouses (criterion a, criterion b).
Lighthouse feature: Ground floor
Photograph showing ground floor of lighthouse. One large central column is fixed to centre of room with a spiral staircase wrapped around it. Photograph showing curved wall of ground floor. Racks line the walls which hold large batteries.
1845 stone floor with later concrete topping.
Equipment – batteries on racks mounted against the tower walls at ground floor level; control equipment
wall mounted.
Heritage significance: high
The ground floor is both an original and essential part of the lighthouse. It maintains significance due to the lighthouse being the odlest of the Bass Strait lights, and due to it being one of only four extant pre-1850 lighthouses in Tasmania (criterion a, criterion b).
Solar panels mounted on aluminium stands affixed to concrete foundations at the base of the tower.
| Integrity: | not assessed |
Lighthouse feature: Oil store
Photograph showing small, white store house surrounded by grassy vegetation.Photograph of a sign that reads Oil Store.
Photograph showing inside of store house. Two ladders lean up against a wall and a small bench is situated in the centre of the room.Photograph showing front door of small store house.
1938 timber framed, gable roofed building on concrete slab floor. 2012 CFC sheeted and lined externally and internally. 2012 stainless steel corrugated roofing sheets, gutters and downpipes.
Double hung windows are boarded up. No equipment in place. Concrete water tank attached.
Condition:
intact and sound
Integrity:
high
Significance:
high
Maintenance:
prepare and repaint parts as required
Rectification works:
none
The oil store is an essential part of the lightstation. It maintains significance due to the lightstation being the oldest of the Bass Strait lights, and due to it being one of only four extant pre-1850s lightstation in Tasmania (criterion a, criterion b).
Concrete floor slab remaining from a demolished building (function not known). This is the structure currently used as a helipad.
Condition:
many cracks throughout slab, but still sound
Integrity:
medium
Significance:
moderate
Maintenance:
keep in service
Rectification works:
none
Heritage significance: Moderate
The helipad is an essential part of the lightstation and was originally a building.
4.2 Related object and associated AMSA artefact
There are no AMSA artefacts located on-site at Swan Island Lighthouse.
4.3 Comparative analysis
Exhibiting similar stylistic features, both Swan Island Lighthouse, first lit 1845, and Goose Island Lighthouse, first lit 1846, were built by ex-convict Charles Watson and his team of prisoners. Both masonry towers were constructed of cement rendered rubble stone and fitted with a catadioptric lens with silvered mirrors (see figure 19). In 1872, Swan Island’s mirrors were removed and fitted in the Goose Island lantern room. Located on isolated islands, the two towers are situated approximately 54.5 km apart in Bass Strait and are considered to be the two major coastal lights operating north-east of Tasmania.
Photograph showing white lighthouse tower against blue skyPhotograph of white lighthouse tower and small service building standing beside rocky coastline.
Figure 14. Goose Island Lighthouse (Source: ASMA, 2019)
Figure 15. Swan Island Lighthouse (Source: AMSA, 2019)