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NLA News cover On the cover this month

Samuel Elyard (1817-1910)
The Old Macquarie Lighthouse, South Head, c.1864
watercolour; 36.2 x 56.2 cm
Pictures Collection,
nla.pic-an2686423

The first lighthouse in Australia was built on Sydney Harbour’s South Head, by command of Governor Lachlan Macquarie. It was designed by Francis Greenway and completed in 1818. By 1878, the tower was deemed unsafe and the New South Wales Government decided to build a new lighthouse. Construction began in 1881 and the new light was first exhibited in 1883. The new structure was a replica of the old tower, but stronger in materials and design. The lantern was removed from the old tower but the structure itself was not demolished for several years. Illumination in the new tower was initially by gas burner and electric generator, was converted to a vaporised kerosene incandescent mantle system in 1912, and then back to electricity with connection of the city power supply in 1933. For further images of this celebrated lighthouse, and the tale of other such guardians of Australia’s coastline, see story p. 3.

 

September 2005 Volume XV Number 12

'ONCE A DANGER, NOW SAFE'

Russell Doust goes on a voyage of discovery in the National Library, investigating Australia’s lighthouses

A NEW LEASE ON LIFE

Judy Horacek has always looked for new ways to share her cartoons. As Kathryn Favelle reports, a selection of her work has now become part of the Library’s Pictures Collection

'WE HAVE COME HERE AS CONQUERORS. YOU WILL DO AS WE SAY'

Stuart Braga tells the story of Hong Kong’s liberation in World War II, and how his uncle, Jack Braga, later brought his important collection documenting the European presence in East Asia from the sixteenth to the twentieth century to Australia for inclusion in the National Library’s Collection

ALAN MOOREHEAD: A REDISCOVERY

Ann Moyal introduces her biography of Alan Moorehead, the first in a new series of Australian lives being published by the National Library

A PASSION FOR READlNG--THE STORY OF A CANBERRA BOOK GROUP

Claudia Hyles relates her experience as a member of the Bookworms reading group, and advises of a memorial book donation which the group is making to the Library’s Collection

FRIENDS

A regular news page about the activities of the Friends of the National Library of Australia

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