Crookhaven Heads Light

Crookhaven Heads Light is an active lighthouse located at Crookhaven Heads, a headland on the south side of the entrance to the Shoalhaven River, north of Culburra Beach, New South Wales, Australia. Together with a movable light flashing yellow every 2s it serves as a range light into the channel. The lighthouse is in a severely deteriorated condition, and considered by some the most endangered lighthouse in New South Wales, suffering from repeated vandalization.HistoryThe first light on the vicinity was a red lantern made from a ship's masthead supported on two poles, present at the river entrance since 1872.The station was established with a timber tower in 1882, as part of the Shoalhaven Signal Station west of the current lighthouse, with Thomas Bishop as the first operator. The apparatus had been a brass lantern.The current lighthouse was commissioned in 1904 and the old wooden lighthouse was immediately demolished. The lantern used was the one from the former Cape St George Lighthouse which was replaced by Point Perpendicular Light in 1899. The name of the station was then changed to Crookhaven Heads.The power source was changed to solar power in the late 20th century.State todayThe lighthouse is currently in a severely deteriorated condition due to vandalism. The doors have been broken and removed, the windows and lantern room glass have been smashed and trash has been dumped inside. Vandalism is encouraged by its isolation and aggravated by the fact that the reserve is overgrown, making it impossible to see from the nearby Culburra Beach village.