Cleveland Lighthouse

This landmark timber structure which still stands proud at Cleveland Point was built in 1864-65 as one of the first in the colony of Queensland and today is the only remaining timber lighthouse in Moreton Bay and one of a few left in Queensland. It is also unique for its hexagonal shape at a time when lighthouses were generally round.

At the time of its construction it contained a gasoline lamp which could be seen as far away as 14.5km. As the first lighthouse built under the Colony’s newly appointed Port master and Marine Surveyor Captain GP Heath, it became the prototype for other lighthouse structures due to its ease of being moved on the shifting sands of the coastline.

Until such time as it was built there had been temporary makeshift lights erected at the point including one by early local resident Francis Bigge MLA (whose claim to fame was his construction of the nearby Grand View, at one time known as Bigge’s Folly).

A lens apparatus dating from 1875 that was installed in 1879 is still intact although in 1934 the illuminant itself was changed to electricity.

Upon its retirement in 1976 it relinquished its spot at the end of the point, where the replacement lighthouse stands and took up its current location, about 30m away.