A volunteer guide shows tourists around Cape Byron lighthouse.
Part of the clockwork mechanism that once turned the light at Byron Lighthouse, an otherwise ordinary seeming length of chain, has been donated to the Cape Byron Museum by local farmer George Flick.
The chain, along with various other bits of memorabilia, was sold off when the station was de-manned in the 1980s.
Chair of the Cape Byron Trust, Yvonne Stewart, said the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service Friends of Cape Byron used the opportunity to commend the volunteers who keep the wheels of the lighthouse turning these days.
‘Even everyday items such as this ten metre length of chain are important reminders of the past. It will be now be displayed along with the hand-wound clockwork mechanism on display in the light tower.
‘Some of these volunteers who have a particular passion for conserving the various historical items contained in the lighthouse museum recently undertook a museum curators training course conducted by the Queensland Museum,’ Ms Stewart said.
‘From this training a museum management committee has been formed to enrich the museum collection by gathering as much information as possible about the lighthouse precinct and about the lives of those who have maintained the site of the past 112 years,’ she said.
‘The committee is interested to hear from you if you may know somebody – a father, an uncle, a grandfather or a grandmother – who have lived or worked at the lighthouse.
‘Any stories you may have will be recorded and become a precious addition to the history of the place. The management committee would also be very interested in obtaining for the lighthouse museum any relevant items you have.’
Members volunteer their time to provide a seven-days-a-week service and are to be found in and around the lighthouse providing information to visitors about the history of the lighthouse and Byron Bay and about the many natural wonders to be seen from this special vantage point.
Contact ranger Nathan Oliver at the Byron Bay NSW National Parks office on phone 6620 9300 with any enquiries