🔆 A Light in the Dark 🔆
First lit in 1848, the
Cape Otway Lightstation, or 'Beacon of Hope', is the oldest surviving lighthouse in
mainland Australia and considered to be the most significant.
Photo Credit: Caitlin Tupper
About
A lighthouse is a tower or other structure displaying or flashing a very bright light for the guidance of ships in avoiding dangerous areas. Lighthouses mark dangerous coastlines, hazardous shoals, reefs, rocks, and safe entries to harbors. Once widely used, the number of operational lighthouses has declined due to the expense of maintenance plus the advent of much cheaper, more sophisticated and effective electronic navigational systems.
Preservation
As lighthouses became less essential to navigation, many of their historic structures faced demolition or neglect. In the United States, the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000 provides for the transfer of lighthouse structures to local governments and private non-profit groups, while the USCG continues to maintain the lamps and lenses.
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