OCEAN OUTLOOK: Lighting a pathway forward

Heritage lighthouses still help us navigate the future for shipping and ports

AS WE navigate the complex future of maritime globally, can we expect traditional lighthouses to be much use anymore, when automation and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) reign supreme?

Maybe. But perhaps we need to remind ourselves that even the most technologically advanced equipment and processes have been known to let us down at times.

While Global Positioning Systems (GPS) are the most heavily relied upon aid to navigation, signals can be degraded or blocked by both natural and man-made sources, resulting in inaccurate data or complete loss of GPS signal.

Extreme weather conditions — which we are experiencing more frequently these days — can knock out the most efficient “fail-safe” apparatus. Human error cannot be ruled out, nor can deliberate acts of cyber-crime.

Tim Harford, BBC presenter of 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy, asked back in 2019 — before the Covid pandemic had such a damaging impact on practically everything — could the world cope if GPS stopped working?

For a start, he said, “we would all have to engage our brains and pay attention to the world around us when getting from A to B!”

Emergency services would start struggling. Operators wouldn't be able to locate callers from their phone signal, or identify the nearest ambulance or police car. There would be snarl-ups at ports, he noted, as even container cranes need GPS to unload ships.

The value of lighthouses

In remote or weak signal areas, lighthouses act as essential safety features, ensuring that mariners always have a visible reference to orient themselves and maintain the correct course, especially in critical situations.

Lighthouses are fixed coastal landmarks. This is especially important in areas with heavy shipping traffic, where margins of error are minimal and any deviation can lead to collisions or groundings.

Lighthouses have evolved significantly over the centuries.

In the third century BC, Egypt built one of the first known prominent beacons to aid navigation in the Mediterranean.

The Lighthouse of Alexandria used fire to generate light and alert ships approaching the Port of Alexandria, according to the book and television series “Seven Wonders of the Ancient World” by Bettany Hughes.

But it was another book which enhanced my lighthouse research even more. I found in my local library “75 Most Magnificent Lighthouses” by Ian Penberthy. A weighty tome in more ways than one, but full of impressive photography and succinct summaries of these prominent properties.

Australia scored with these three:

• Cape Byron Lighthouse, which was constructed at the turn of the 20th century, marking an era of increased trade and exploration along Australia’s eastern coastline. Not only is it located at the most easterly point of Australia’s coastline, but is the most powerful, having a light with 2,200,000 candlepower. Since its first lighting in 1901, the structure has withstood the test of time, weathering fierce ocean storms and remaining a steadfast guardian of the coast.
• Port of Adelaide Lighthouse now features on the waterfront of the port as a Maritime Museum exhibit but played an important role in guiding shipping for 116 years, first located at the mouth of the Port River, then moved in 1901 to Neptune Island.
• Hornby Heads Lighthouse, marking a promontory known as South Head at the entrance to Jackson Bay and Sydney Harbour, was built in direct response to a public outcry over two fatal shipping accidents in 1857. First was the Dunbar, wrecked in August, with 121 fatalities, while the second was Catherine Adamson, two months later with 21 lives lost.

New Zealand has only one lighthouse in the book, at Cape Reinga, the most northerly tip of the North Island. An important landfall for shipping coming across the Tasman Sea and from Pacific Islands to the north,

While it didn’t make it into the top 75 in the book, the Statue of Liberty officially served as a navigational aid for shipping from 1886 to 1902, operating under the authority of the Lighthouse Board.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority and lighthouses

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) tells us that lighthouses continue to be an important part of the network of aids to navigation around the coastline with many being heritage listed.

Lighthouses are a historical symbol of safety and have been a part of ensuring safe passage for ships along our coastline for over 100 years.

AMSA is responsible for an effective network of about 480 aids to navigation, including lighthouses, beacons and buoys around the Australian coastline.

To ensure consistency, AMSA technicians visit each lighthouse regularly to perform maintenance on critical components.

AMSA is also responsible for the heritage management of a network of 65 historical lighthouses on our Heritage lighthouse interactive map

What started me on this lighthouse story was a recent visit to Norah Head on NSW’s central coast.

Not only is this lighthouse a very prominent feature of the landscape and seascape and therefore very necessary for safe shipping, but is now regarded as a distinctive heritage site and the object of increasing tourist interest.

Not surprisingly, visitor accommodation is available on site, utilising dwellings originally provided for lighthouse-keepers.

To back up my personal observation and literature research, I decided to seek the help of AI to get the answer to my important question: How can lighthouses help to promote safety, security and sustainability at sea and for ports?

Not surprisingly, AI confirmed that lighthouses promote safety by marking dangerous coastlines, reefs and shoals and by providing a reliable visual reference point for navigation, especially when electronic systems fail.

Further, it told me that for security, lighthouses can help guide law enforcement and rescue vessels.

To promote sustainability, lighthouses play a role in preventing ship groundings that might cause ecological damage and by adopting sustainable technologies, like using solar power to keep the light shining at all times.

AI also confirmed the importance of heritage conservation of lighthouses, recognising their value beyond the navigational function.

Then I put on my travel writer’s hat to look into what cruise passengers get to see by way of lighthouses.

“Temples of the Mediterranean” is how historians have described 147 Italian lighthouses, which still illuminate the coastline and tell stories of this most famous sea and its traditions.

These maritime monuments not only represent a link between the past and the present, but are also an invaluable economic asset.

Among the Italian lighthouses, those of the Amalfi Coast and the Sorrento Peninsula, stand out for their breathtaking beauty and for the importance they have both in terms of maritime safety and tourist attractions.

In one of my recent travel reports, I suggested travellers should get on board the Queen Victoria in October 2026 when in Rome and cruise through the cool Mediterranean waters, passing by historic islands — and lighthouses — on their way to Palma De Mallorca and Cartagena, before arriving at the Spanish port of Malaga to go on shore to tour Granada).

With lighthouses on my mind, I decided to get the last word from Joel Katz, Managing Director in Australasia, Cruise Lines International Association, who told me they provide “a vital visual reference, marking hazards and safe approaches and acting as an additional cross-check to electronic instruments.

“For cruise passengers they are part of the story of seafaring itself, symbols of safety that have guided ships to safe harbour for generations and that still play a role in keeping modern maritime traffic secure.”