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Drawing on the experience of his great-great-grandparents, Flagstaff Hill volunteer John Harrison will deliver a presentation detailing the daily lives of local lighthouse keepers and their families this Sunday.
John’s talk is part of the Lighthouse Keepers of the Great South West: a weekend-long collaboration involving historians from Warrnambool, Portland and Port Fairy, celebrating the region’s maritime heritage.
John’s ancestor George Swanston was the assistant lighthouse keeper from 1861-1864, a time when Warrnambool’s lighthouse was on Middle Island. He lived there with his wife Janet Grieve and the couple had seven children.
George served under senior assistant lighthouse keeper Robert Deverell, who also lived on the island with his family.
“Unfortunately, there were problems with tension between management and workers, and also between the families,” John said.
“The families shared a cottage and you can imagine a winter’s day with two families living in one cottage… stuck on an island.
“One of their biggest problems was that everything had to come by boat.”
He said that the firewood delivery man earned the particular ire of the island’s inhabitants, who relied on wood for heating and cooking.
“If the sea got a little bit rough, he wouldn’t take any firewood.”
Due to its relatively small size, the lighthouse was often obscured by fog, and was moved to its current position at Flagstaff Hill in the late 1870s.
The bluestone cottage that George Swanston and his family lived in for three years has also been relocated to Flagstaff Hill.
It was only after he began volunteering at Flagstaff Hill that John learned more about his personal connection to the village’s iconic lighthouse.
“A cousin rang me and said ‘are you aware that we have a relative (who worked at the lighthouse in Warrnambool) and it suddenly made sense as my mother had talked to me about lighthouse relatives,” he said.
“Elizabeth O’Callaghan has done a brilliant local history on the lighthouse keepers. I met Elizabeth before she passed away and congratulated her.
“And we have a good amount of information here in our collection.”
He encouraged everyone looking to learn more about the history of the region’s lighthouses and the families who kept them going to come along.
“We are very lucky to have this heritage and I hope we can continue it on into the future,” he said.
Lighthouse Keepers of the Great South West is part of the Australian Heritage Festival.
Entry to all events is free.
Lighthouse Keepers of the Great South West
10 May 2025 10am – 11am | Cape Nelson Lightstation | Cape Nelson Road, Portland West, Victoria, 3305 | Presentation from Gordon Stokes and cannon firing
10 May 2025, 12pm – 1pm | Whalers Bluff Lighthouse | Lighthouse Ave, Portland, Victoria, 3305 | Presentation from Mike Risk.
10 May 2025, 2pm – 2:30pm | Portland Battery | 20 Victoria Parade, Portland, Victoria, 3305 | Cannon Firing
11 May 2025, 10am – 11:30pm | Port Fairy Lighthouse | Griffiths Island, Port Fairy, Victoria, 3284 | Presentation from Marten Syme and cannon firing (includes 15 minutes walk time to and from lighthouse from carpark)
11 May 2025, 2pm – 3pm | Warrnambool Lighthouse Precinct | Flagstaff Hill, 89 Merri Street, Warrnambool, Victoria, 3280 | Presentation from John Harrison and Cannon Firing.