A dream come true, a visit Althorpe Island
One fine day we boated out to an uninhabited island that was manned for many years by three families. The families operated the lighthouse and kept the lights burning for many a ship that passed by these often treacherous seas. Many of the buildings are in a state of disrepair but thanks to a small organisation “Friends of Althorpe Island” the islands facitities are now being maintained and repaired, the weeds and environment are also being looked after, thanks to these people this amazing place is now a protected area and will not simply dissolve into a forgotten past.
On many of our visits to the beaches in the Dhilba Guraanda Innes National Park you can view Althorpe Island and you will clearly see three tiny white dots on the island and the white lighthouse practically in the centre of these homes. I had spent many a year gazing and dreaming and even researching what and who these past historical figures and artifacts were. I always longed to visit this island and take in a piece of history.
A boat and finally that long awaited trip to see this remote island.
What an honour, what an exciting adventure. It was a very beautiful and incredibly rugged and spectacular place. Apparently the three families who lived in these cottages had children on the island, schooled them, feed them, played with them etc. All supplies came by boat or air. Unbelievable how these people lived in this harsh environment and performed a very needed task.
My images hopefully tell the rest of the story, what we saw and how history has such a place in our lives.
I am no historian so have included some links to a few more informative sites.
The distant white homes and the lighthouse I had dreamt and wondered about….. Finally I got to go and visit this remote and unusual place. This is the view from the mainland. Cape Spencer lighthouse and lookout is in the foreground.
Approaching the island the sea is a distinctly strong turquoise colour, and the cliffs are very steep and rugged.
An old storage shed on the jetty
The old jetty looks out towards a small fishing boat and Haystack Island in the distance
Climbing to the top of the island.
Looking down.
View from the top of the island. You can see the south end of Yorke Peninsula and Haystack Island in the distance.
One of the old abandoned lighthouse keepers cottages and three Cape Barren geese flying over.
Lighthouse with some sea birds flying over. Very impressive
A pulley erected to transport materials and provisions up and down the cliff face.
Looking back and a lot of over grown bushes. Mutton birds build nests and live concealed beneath much of the vegetation. Unfortunately we did not see any as the season was wrong for their nesting period.
A sea lion comes to say goodbye.
We have returned on only a few occasions to Althorpe Island. Twice to visit a small inlet at the back of Althorpe island, called Salmon Inlet and once on a calm New Years Eve a few years ago, to have a quick fun swim.
Actually the New Years Eve visit turned into quite an adventure. Three huge sea lions swam around our boat while we rested on the sandy shore. It took them some 45 minutes to head off out into the ocean and then this enabled us to swim back to our boat.
We were not game enough to swim with these enormous looking sea creatures. But certainly another adventure to add to the collection.
All images taken by Wendy Philip. No AI generated images.
