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MV Cape Don Lighthouse Tender

    Crew at work

         Colin Bishop

         Ralph Meakins

         Garry Cartwright

         National Archives

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The MV Cape Don Crew at Work

National Archives of Australia Collection

National Archives of Australia    Photo Search     Record Search 

Lighthouses and Beacons as a search term returns over 550 items. The wonderful travelling exhibition Beacons by the Sea has been in part the catalyst in the large increase of images and records to be found online.

PictureAustralia      :     Google Image Search    :    Lighthouses of Australia Inc.

The success of your searching is most often determined by the choice of key words and then refining your search by including or excluding additional criteria. I have attempted to shortcut the process for you by showing as many relevant thumbnail images as I could find. The image above is its full size, so by going to the photo search option and typing in the reference numbers below each image or, typing in a series number, you will be able to click onto images in greater detail. NB: New images are continually being loaded as they are requested.

Series number A6247   Title   Glass plate copy negatives of Australian coastal lighthouses

NB: I am only showing those images with Lighthouse tender crew working on them on this page. See more NAA Lighthouse images.

Series number A1200  Title Photographic negatives and prints, single number series with 'L' [Library] prefix

The date attributed to this series of images is 1963, the first year of MV Cape Don as the Lighthouse Tender servicing WA and NT. Certainly, some of the images appear very posed and may well have been a promotional set of images taken on the Cape Don's maiden voyage.

Time to relax in the cabin and enjoy your hobbies and time off. Most steaming between points of call was done overnight. While the ship was away for about 3 months at a time there would be several crew changes in that time.

Series number A8763 Title  Photographic colour negatives, single number with 'KN' [Colour Negatives] prefix

Cape Don crew work was varied - anything from the specialist work of the mechanical and electrical engineers to delivering Correspondence School of the Air lessons, clearing the vegetation from the immediate area, the never ending chipping, antirusting and painting of steel components, repairing anything from a gas leak to installing new solar panels to fitting bird spikes to sunvalves, transferring Keepers and their families and other visitors, delivering supplies to remote Keepers, building new lighthouse installations, replacing batteries, transferring fuel and water, check and replace tower bolts and even resupply emergency food supply locations. The work itinerary was planned prior to leaving. At all times they were involved in the maintenance of lights of the coast of WA and NT, inspecting each light as they arrived and making recommendations as to the need for future work itineraries. With the demanning and automation of lights, the work continued although now without the contact with the Keepers and their families, and included tasks such as installing helipads preparing for the end of an era of Lighthouse Tenders.