Augusta – 12 April 2010

From Pemberton we drove to Augusta, an attractive fishing village cum holiday town at the mouth of the Blackwood River.

Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse is just outside Augusta and marks the point where the Indian and the Southern oceans meet.

The lighthouse, the second tallest in WA with seven floors and 186 steps, was built from 1895 to 1896 of local limestone.

The light was manually operated until 1982 when it was converted to electricity, replacing the clockwork mechanism and kerosene burner, and was automated in September 1992. It retains the original lens and reflectors.

 

The lighthouse stands on the most South Westerly point of Australia and is where Matthew Flinders began mapping the coast of Australia on 6th December 1801.

Augusta also boasts the “last eating house before the Antarctic.”