Like other “lighthouse kids” she enjoyed freedoms one could only imagine, with her father Jack Jackson stationed as a lighthouse master on the island in the late 1950s and early 1970s.

The energy of the island has coursed through her veins ever since so it is no surprise that she is president of the Friends of Tasman Island organisation, which was formed in 2005.

“I was almost born on Tasman Island, and lived there during my childhood and teenage years, as my father’s first and last postings as a lighthouse keeper were on that island,” Jackson says. “As children we ran wild and did crazy, stupid things, with no society to keep us tame.”

Lighthouse keepers lived on the island from 1906-1976, with Jackson’s family one of the last to live there before the lighthouse became automated.

There were always three families living there at a time as the lighthouse needed to be manned day and night, so despite the incredibly remote location it was not uncommon for up to 10 children to be roaming the island together at a time, forming bonds akin to siblinghood.

The island boasts one of Australia’s oldest working lighthouses, along with three “magnificent Federation brick houses” which were the lighthouse keeper’s cottages and a quaint oil store shed – all built in 1906. The construction of these buildings in the early 1900s would have been extremely difficult given the harsh climate the remote, desolate and windswept island is renowned for.

And the original construction phase would have been even more onerous given that the lighthouse and keepers’ quarters were built with materials weighing up to 660kg, that all needed to be hauled up the island’s 200m cliff face, first by a flying fox and then by a horse-powered tramline.

With such a rich history to maintain, there has been much work done over the years by FOTI to restore the historic buildings through their various volunteer-led working bees.

The houses all now have modern guttering, downpipes and tanks, gas showers and cookers and running water, allowing volunteers to stay there throughout the year.

FOTI will hold their 34th working bee in November, and to raise money for this they will hold the Virtual Climb of the Tasman Island Lighthouse fundraiser in September.

This challenge encourages people to experience a taste of daily life as a lighthouse keeper, as they pledge to collectively climb 130 steps, somewhere in their surrounding area over the course of the month. The group is calling this challenge ­STEPtember, and nominated the goal in honour of the 130 steep, windy steps of the Tasman Island lighthouse, equivalent to 29m or nine floors high, that lighthouse keepers were required to climb each time the light needed attending to.

Once registered for the challenge online you can access a clever video which takes you on a virtual tour of the journey up and down these steps to put you in the mood.

“Take the challenge or sponsor a friend to virtually climb the lighthouse as many times as you can in September,” Jackson says.

FOTI is part of the Wildcare network, the biggest incorporated environmental volunteer organisation in Tasmania, and it works in partnership with Parks and Wildlife Services Tasmania in caring for the natural and cultural values of Tasman Island.

“Our group is made up of a motley range of people – former lighthouse kids and keepers, yachties, pharophiles, which are lovers of lighthouses, and people who just love volunteering in wild places,” Jackson says.

“We are a high achieving and hard working group with over 400 people on our email list, 30 odd people turn up to our monthly meetings and we have 2500 members on our Facebook page.”

Maintenance, restoration and environmental works have been extensive during FOTI’s working bees, and funding for these volunteer-run sessions comes through their own fundraisers and state government grants.

This all keeps the island and its amenities accessible and usable to the vast array of interested people who visit which include artists and photographers, scientists and naturalists, those touring around the island on scenic cruises, and even more recently a bride and groom on their wedding day.

“It’s one of the most special places in the world, it just rises out of the water with soaring steep cliffs nearly a thousand feet high – some people call it a wedding cake – and it sits out proudly off the tip of the Tasman Peninsula,” Jackson says.

“It is a highlight of the Three Capes Walk, where people stand on the Blade and look out to it and fantasise about what life must have been like [on the island]. “The birds and skinks are flourishing, and what is remarkable about the natural habitat is that there are no snakes, no marsupials or macropods and there are lots of birds, like beautiful big flocks of yellowtail black cockatoos.”

FOTI’s 34th working bee in November will feature a restoration project on the back veranda of Lighthouse Keepers Quarters No.2. Volunteers will reconstruct the veranda in its original design and using materials that are suitable to withstand the harshness of the area.                                                                                    ●●

To take part in the Virtual Climb of the Tasman Island Lighthouse fundraiser in September visit https://lighthouse-climb-2.raisely.com/signup