Two lighthouses have different purposes but both serve an important cause
At the northern and southern ends of the peninsula – at Barrenjoey Head and Grotto Point – stand lighthouses that were built with a single purpose, to saved the lives of those at sea.
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At the northern and southern ends of the peninsula – at Barrenjoey Head and Grotto Point – stand lighthouses that were built with a single purpose, to saved the lives of those at sea.
But the lighthouses serve their common purpose in very different ways – one as a beacon warning ships to steer clear of danger and the other as a guiding light drawing them in with the promise of safety.
And the lighthouses vary in another important aspect – one stands tall and proud atop a headland and has become an icon of its location, while the other is so discreet in its appearance and location that it is almost hidden from view except from the water.
Sitting atop a headland that almost seems as if it was designed for the purpose, Barrenjoey Lighthouse is a solid but graceful sandstone tower that rises to a height of 113m above sea level and is visible for miles in every direction.
And that the light that has been a beacon to mariners for nearly 140 years has also been the flame to attract visitors and locals alike to climb its rock slope and share its panoramic view.
But the light on the hill is much older than today’s sandstone symbol of Pittwater’s pride.
As far back as 1855 a light to guide mariners shone from atop Barrenjoey Head but the light inside the small weatherboard hut was lit only in bad weather.
A parliamentary committee was appointed in 1863 to consider the addition of new lighthouses along the NSW coast to augment the eight already in operation.
Barrenjoey was one of the four new lighthouses the committee recommended.
Two wooden towers, 3.5m and 6m high were built about 360m apart, with beacons lit by kerosene lamps.
Although sandstone was the desired material with which to build the towers, Barrenjoey was still on private land that had been granted to James Napper in 1816, so the towers were instead built of timber.
Named the Stewart Towers, for Robert Stewart, the Member for East Sydney who played a large part in having them erected, the towers cost ₤300 to build and the kerosene lamps, which could be seen for 13km to seaward, were lit for the first time on July 20, 1868.
But the experts knew that a brighter light in a stronger tower was needed at Barrenjoey to be able to properly warm mariners of their position in even the worst weather and that timber was no replacement for stone, so the land was resumed by the Colonial Government, plans were drawn by Colonial Architect James Barnet and the foundation stone of the new lighthouse was laid on April 15, 1880.
Stone for the buildings was quarried at three sites atop Barrenjoey but all other building materials had to be brought in, so a trolley track was built up the side of the hill, starting from a point near the jetty on the western side of the headland. Hardwood rails fixed to the rock by iron spikes carried horse-drawn trolleys to the top of the hill.
As well as the lighthouse, a stone cottage of five rooms was built for the head lighthouse keeper and two semi-detached stone cottages of four rooms each were built for the assistant keepers.
Construction of the complex was completed in July 1881 and the light was lit for the first time on August 1.
For the next 50 years the light was attended by more than 20 keepers and assistants, along with their families, until 1932, when the lighthouse was automated.
Following the departure of the lighthouse keepers, the vacant cottages were soon vandalised and it was not until the 1950s and ‘60s that they were restored, with the occupants often bearing most of the cost.
Compared to the magnificent edifice atop Barrenjoey Head, the Grotto Point Light is tiny but its small size is inversely proportional to its significance – when coupled with the Parriwi Light on the other side of Middle Harbour, the two lights form the leading line to guide the masters of ships into Port Jackson.
Also known as the Port Jackson Entrance Range Front Light, the Grotto Point Light was first exhibited in September 1911, as was the Parriwi Point Light, which is also known as the Port Jackson Entrance Range Rear Light and sometimes as the Rosherville Light, even though it is more than 200m from Rosherville Reserve.
What is curious about both lights, however, is that a growing number of authors, both in print and online, claim they were designed by Maurice Festu, who they say also designed the Vaucluse Bay Range Front Light and the Vaucluse Bay Range Rear Light “in a style now sometimes called Disney Castle”.
But Maurice Festu, who had several connections with Manly, was a master mariner, not an architect, and the two lights at Vaucluse Bay were erected while Captain Festu was still living in Belfast.
And even if Captain Festu was capable of designing a lighthouse, there is no way the Sydney Harbour Trust, which oversaw navigation on the harbour at the time, would have let him have anything to do with lighthouse design following a very public debate between Festu and the Trust in the pages of the metropolitan newspapers.
In essence, Captain Festu considered the commissioners of the Trust inept and the editors of Sydney’s newspapers agreed with him.
Maurice Festu was born in 1865 in Cromac in County Antrim, one of the Six Counties that form Northern Ireland.
In 1886, aged 21, he was issued his Second Mate’s Certificate in Belfast, in 1889 he was issued his Mate’s Certificate in the same port and in 1890 he was issued his Master’s Certificate, also in Belfast.
It’s not known when Captain Festu first sailed into Port Jackson but he was certainly known in Tasman waters by 1894, working for New Zealand’s Union Steam Ship Company, which ran ships between New Zealand, Tasmania and the Australian mainland and by 1914 was the largest shipping line in the southern hemisphere.
On two occasions in 1894, Festu dived into Wellington Harbour to rescue men who had fallen into the water, for which he was awarded Certificates of Merit by the Royal Humane Society.
But in July 1910, Captain Festu’s name was there for all to read in the major Sydney newspapers when he took to task the Sydney Harbour Trust for not ensuring the safe navigation of Sydney Harbour.
In the early 1900s, the Trust, which oversaw all shipping into and out of the harbour, as well as wharves, lights and beacons, was coming under increasing criticism over the poor system of lights and beacons used to guide shipping in the harbour.
At the time, ships navigated the harbour by day using landmarks, such as church spires, but had almost no landmarks to use by night.
As part of its response to this criticism, the Trust eventually chose a system of leading lights on Grotto Point and Parriwi Point, a pile light on the Sow and Pigs Reef to replace the ageing lightship Bramble and the installation or upgrade of lights at five other locations in the harbour.
Most mariners considered the Trust’s plans inadequate to deal with the increasing volume of shipping on the harbour, although the erection of lighthouses on Grotto Point and Parriwi Point to form a leading line into the harbour was approved.
In July 1910 Captain Festu proposed a far more comprehensive scheme for the safe navigation of the harbour that included the leading line formed by lights on Grotto Point and Parriwi Point but went much further by proposing a series of beacons by day and lights by night to guide ships the full length of the harbour without confusion to masters or navigators.
Captain Festu’s proposed scheme was well received by fellow mariners but not by the Trust, which hastily released its own revised plan.
Both plans were published side-by-side in the newspapers so everyone could evaluate them and it was obvious to all that Captain Festu’s plan was superior.
Importantly, both included the construction of lights at Grotto Point and Parriwi Point to form the leading line into the harbour, which is still in use today despite the technological wizardry of the modern age.
But Captain Festu did not design the lighthouses at Grotto Point and Parriwi Point, and nor did he design the two lighthouses at Vaucluse Bay, which were erected in 1884, when Festu was still living in Belfast and had yet to gain his Second Mate’s Certificate.
In 1913, Maurice Festu married Alice Moore at Manly and the couple lived in Sydney Rd, Manly, from 1920 to 1925, and in Fairlight Cres, Manly, from 1935 onwards.
For many seamen, Captain Festu’s greatest efforts on their behalf were conducted in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1929, when he represented Australian seamen at the International Maritime Conference and pushed for better pay and conditions for seamen around the world.
Captain Festu died at his home in Fairlight Cres, Manly, on June 7, 1941, aged 75.
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