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Low Head Lighthouse is situated at the entrance to the Tamar River on Tasmania’s north coast. The Tamar River is Australia’s longest navigable tidal estuary.
The Low Head Lighthouse stands on the site of an old signaling station built during the 1820’s. At that time Launceston’s growth as a commercial and agricultural center needed a fast and accurate means of communication between the town and the river entrance 36 miles away. Six signaling stations were established along the river and operated for 23 years. In March 1858 the electric telegraph took over. However the merchants of Launceston considered this a backwards step. With the old system, they were able to read messages from their office windows, but once the electric telegraph was introduced, they were obliged to walk to the post office to get their messages.
This story appeared in the May 2002 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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