:Creal Reef Light
{{Use Australian English|date=June 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
{{Infobox lighthouse
| name = Creal Reef Light
| image = Creal Reef Light and weather station.jpg
| caption = The light is the tower on the left
| location = Mackay
Queensland
Australia
| coordinates = {{coord|20|32|02.3|S|150|22|49.84|E|display=inline,title}}
| yearbuilt = 1985
| yearlit =
| automated =
| yeardeactivated =
| foundation = reinforced concrete on four piles
| construction = stainless steel skeletal tower
| shape = square pyramidal tower with balcony and lantern
| marking = white tower with an orange square daymark in the upper half
| height = {{convert|34.5|m}}
| focalheight = {{convert|32|m}}
| lens = VRB-25
| intensity = 104,000 cd
| range =
| characteristic = Fl W 7.5s
| fogsignal =
| racon = M
| managingagent = Australian Maritime Safety Authority
}}
Creal Reef Light is an active lighthouse located at Creal Reef, a planar reef about {{convert|150|km}} east of Mackay, Queensland, Australia. It guides ships outgoing from Mackay into Hydrographers Passage, a deep water channel east of Mackay.{{cite rowlett|qld|accessdate=2010-11-14}} The structure is a stainless steel tower, which also serves as a daymark and carries a racon.
Creal Reef
File:Creal Reef weather station.jpg
Creal Reef is a middle shelf planar reef with an area of {{convert|1.6|km2}}.{{cite web |url= http://data.aims.gov.au/reefpage2/reefpage.jsp?fullReefID=20297S |title=AIMS Research - Reef Monitoring |work=data.aims.gov.au |accessdate=22 February 2011}} It was named in the late 1920s by Captain John A. Edgell (RN) on the survey ship HMAS Moresby, during the Moresby survey of the Cumberland Channel inside the Great Barrier Reef.{{cite web |url=http://www.navy.gov.au/hmas-moresby-i |title=HMAS Moresby (I) |accessdate=15 September 2008 |publisher=Sea Power Centre Australia}} It was named after Denis A. J. Creal, a pilot with the No. 101 Flight RAAF who assisted the Moresby with her surveys.{{cite book|title=The Whitsunday Islands - An Historical Dictionary|author=Ray Blackwood|year=1997|page=55}} quoted in {{cite web |url= http://www.mackayhistory.org/research/street_names/street_names.html |title=Street Names of Mackay , Queensland, Australia |work=mackayhistory.org |publisher=Mackay Historical Society |year=2010 |accessdate=22 February 2011}}
Structure and display
The structure, established in April 1985, is a {{convert|21|m}} stainless steel skeletal tower with a white lantern, standing on a reinforced concrete hut, supported on four piles. The total height from the ground to the top platform is {{convert|34.5|m}}. The light shares the location with an automatic weather station.{{cite journal|journal=Lighthouses of Australia Inc. Bulletin|date=September–October 2006|title=The Lighting of Hydrographers Passage – Part 2|author=Michael Pitcher|url=http://www.lighthouse.net.au/lights/Bulletin/0609/hydrographers_part2.htm|volume=9|number=5|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110226080927/http://www.lighthouse.net.au/lights/Bulletin/0609/hydrographers_part2.htm|archivedate=2011-02-26}}
The current light characteristic is a white flash every 7.5 seconds (Fl.W. 7.5s) visible for a distance of {{convert|19|nmi}}.List of Light. Note that AN424-1 lists visibility distance of {{convert|16|nmi}}, but the date is 2006. The apparatus is a solar powered VRB-25 rotating at 1.33 rpm. The light source is a 12 Volt 75 Watt Halogen lamp with an intensity of 104,000 cd. The racon, mounted at an elevation of {{convert|34|m}},{{cite web|url=http://www.amsa.gov.au/drawingregister/drawings/ans/AN424-04.pdf|title=Creal Reef Racon, QLD, AN424-04|work=Aids to Navigation Schedule Issue 10|publisher=Australian Maritime Safety Authority|date=December 2006}}{{dead link|date=August 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} transmits a morse code "M" (- -) for a distance of {{convert|16|nmi}}.{{cite ngall|111|2010|203}}
The daymark, displayed at {{convert|33|m}} above MHWS, comprises two orange {{convert|3|x|7|m}} slats on the northern and western faces.{{cite web|url=http://www.amsa.gov.au/drawingregister/drawings/ans/AN424-01.pdf |title=Creal Reef Light, QLD, AN424-01 |work=Aids to Navigation Schedule Issue 10 |publisher=Australian Maritime Safety Authority |date=December 2006 }}{{dead link|date=December 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
Site operation and visiting
The site and the tower are operated by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. The island is accessible only by boat, and both the site and the tower are closed to the public.
See also
{{Portal|Queensland}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- {{cite loaidx|QLD}}
- {{cite sslidx|QLD}}
{{Lighthouses of Queensland}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Lighthouses completed in 1985
Category:Lighthouses in Queensland
Category:Buildings and structures in North Queensland