Fort Queenscliff Lighthouse

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**Fort Queenscliff Lighthouse**
Location:	Australia
Coordinates WGS-84 (GPS)	38° 16.0' S 144° 39.0' E
Year first lit:	1862
Height:	18 metres
Elevation:	40 metres
Range:	14 Nautical Miles

Fort Queenscliff Lighthouse is situated in the grounds of Fort Queenscliff in Queenscliff, Victoria, Australia, and is one of three black lighthouses in the world, and the only one in the Southern hemisphere. It was built to replace the former sandstone lighthouse that was built in 1843 on the same site , but was underpowered and deteriorating.

It is one of four lighthouses in Queenscliff that are used to guide ships through the notoriously dangerous mouth of Port Phillip Bay

[edit] History

There are two conflicting legends about where the bluestone for the building came from. One version states that it came from Scotland as a ships ballast. In the other more likely version, the stone was quarried in Melbourne and shipped to Queenscliff. The fact that the stone was shipped could have led to the first theories conception. Fort Queenscliff was built around the lighthouse during the Australian Gold Rush after concerns that ships carrying gold may be susceptible to attack from privateers. The light was converted to gas in 1890, and then to electricity in 1924. It is supposed that the first public telephone service in Victoria was installed here. Today the lighthouse is unmanned and automated, and is serviced by Port of Melbourne Corporation.