Samuel Elyard made a few trips out to the lighthouse in the 1840’s.
His described his trips in journals. The trip could sometimes take two days using horse drawn carriage and walking, the track wasn’t clearly marked so getting lost was a common event.
In one of his journal entries he mentions getting lost twice, getting bogged in a swamp, and spending a miserable night in a tent with native dogs howling all around, and having to leave provisions behind to lessen the load.
One you reached the lighthouse there was no accommodation for visitors, you would have to spend your nights on rough ground in tents, he describes having to refasten the tent to prevent it blowing away during the night because there was no shelter from the elements on the exposed and isolated headland.
Later on, a decent house was built for the head keeper and his family and they would sometimes let people stay in a front room.
Samuel loved the region and promoted the area to artists far and wide.
This painting from the 1840’s depicts the lighthouse as it once stood from a southern aspect.
I recently took this image from a similar position. Of course the once grand tower is gone and the cleared headland has reverted back to bush but nothing else has changed that much in 174 years.
His depiction could almost have been traced from my photograph it’s so accurate.
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