In my article titled The John Pirie Anchors (and other Anecdotes About Doug Seton), I stated that Doug Seton had told me a little bit about Mac Lawrie, former proprietor of Lawrie Diving and Marine and past Patron of the Underwater Explorer’s Club of SA. Doug had also told me that the National Motor Museum at Birdwood were holding the “bull’s eye lens” from the Wonga Shoal lighthouse at Semaphore.
The lighthouse had been “run-down and destroyed (in 1912) by the sailing barque Dimsdale (during the night) when the light was fully operational”. I have been doing some more research about Mac Lawrie, the Wonga Shoal lighthouse and the Dimsdale.
The damaged lighthouse (top) and the Dimsdale (bottom)
(Source: An Advertiser feature, Newspapers in Education – Part two, Lighthouses of the SA coast, September 27, 2005)
According to https://lighthouses.org.au/sa/wonga-shoal-lighthouse/ , “Wonga Shoal Lighthouse stood over its Semaphore anchorage for just 11 years between 1901 and 1912.The lighthouse was erected by Chance Brothers 2.8km off the Semaphore jetty, and first lit on 1st July 1901. It incorporated the lantern and machinery from the old Port Adelaide Lighthouse which it replaced.” and “Early in the morning of November 17 1912 the sailing ship Dimsdale hit the structure, knocking it over. The two keepers were drowned.”
The damaged lighthouse (foreground) and the Dimsdale (background)
(Source: “Wonga Shoal” by Captain J. Maitland Thomson in “The First 100 Years of Semaphore 1883-1983”)
I also found the same photo in "Sagas of Stean and Sail" by Neil W. Cormack: -
(Source: "Sagas of Stean and Sail" by Neil W. Cormack)
It appears from information given to me by Doug that the Underwater Explorers Club of South Australia (UEC) did some dives on the former site of the Wonga Shoal lighthouse in the late 1960s. This is evident from a report in the Sunday Mail of 6th September 1969, written by GD (Doug) Seton. Unfortunately, some of the report is missing and even this page is either torn or eaten at the edges: -
The report in the Sunday Mail of 6th September 1969, written by GD (Doug) Seton
(the Wonga Shoal lighthouse is shown at top right)
It is evident, however, that members of the UEC had collected several items from the site and these were displayed (at the Royal Adelaide Show?) that same month (September 1969). The newspaper article featured across 2 pages (at least) and included at least 3 photos, including at least one of a UEC member.
The photo of the two people in the report showing them examining some of the artefacts found near the wreck of the Wonga Shoal light”.
(Source: Courtesy of Doug & Mara Seton)
The two people featured in the photo are said to be examining “a lens bullseye and an English clay bottle found near the wreck of the Wonga Shoal light”. Now, as explained above, Doug had told me that the National Motor Museum at Birdwood were holding the “bull’s eye lens” from the Wonga Shoal lighthouse. It would seem then, that the bullseye lens in the photo ended up at the National Motor Museum.
Peter Christopher remembers diving on the lighthouse remains with the Underwater Explorers Club Of SA in the late 1960s. "During the dive, the shape of the base was clear, and quite a lot of broken prism pieces were scattered on the seabed," says Peter.
According to “Wonga Shoal” by Captain J. Maitland Thomson in “The First 100 Years of Semaphore 1883-1983”, “By 1962, it was decided…. to dismantle the Wonga Shoal light. ,,,, Tenders were called for the removal of the original Wonga Shoal light, which was still lying on the sea bed. Mr Mac Lawrie, a local slipway proprietor, was the successful tenderer. ….. After Mac Lawrie had started to cut the old lighthouse to pieces, he had a brain wave. He air blasted a huge hole in the sea bed alongside the old light and just rolled the old light into this hole, and today the Wonga Shoal lighthouse lies buried beneath the Shoal over which it kept guard for a brief ten years.”
This confused me somewhat because I thought that the Port Adelaide lighthouse was the one from Wonga Shoal. According to https://www.portadelaide.org/lighthouse/ , however, “The (Port Adelaide) lighthouse arrived in South Australia in April 1867, having been prefabricated in England and shipped to Australia in pieces. It was erected at the entrance to the Port River and was first lit on January 1st 1869. ….. In 1901 a screw pile lighthouse was erected on Wonga Shoal (8 miles from Port Adelaide) which was first lit in July 1901, incorporating the lantern and machinery from the Port Adelaide Lighthouse which it replaced. ….. It was destroyed in November 1912 when the sailing ship ‘Dimsdale’ struck it, drowning 2 keepers.
The damaged lighthouse (foreground) and the Dimsdale (background)
(Source: The report in the Sunday Mail of 6th September 1969, written by GD (Doug) Seton)
This photo, and the other similar photos shown above, feature a steamboat with a diver who is said to be searching for bodies: -
The steamboat alongside the damaged lighthouse
(Source: The State Library of South Australia – B 68531)
“The iron structure from the Port Adelaide Lighthouse was re-erected on South Neptune Island in the Spencer Gulf….. first exhibited on November 1st 1901. …. The Port Adelaide Lighthouse now stands at the end of commercial road, Port Adelaide ….. It was decommissioned in 1985 and acquired by the South Australian Maritime Museum, restored and reassembled on its present site on Black Diamond Square.”
The One & All sailing past the Port Adelaide lighthouse
(Source: The South Australian Archaeology Society archives)
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