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HISTORY & INFORMATION

The Lighthouse/Timeball Tower situated at Point Gellibrand in Williamstown was erected in 1852, and replaced earlier navigational aids established from the time of the first settlement in 1835. The unusual square plan form is distinctive amongst lighthouses in Victoria, and is of technical and creative interest.

The first lighthouse was built at Point Gellibrand, Williamstown, in 1839-40. This timber structure was replaced with a square bluestone lighthouse tower, designed by Henry Ginn. The bluestone section has battered lower stories featuring rusticated masonry with smooth string courses and originally had a castellated parapet with mast and spherical, copper plate timeball above. The masonry was quarried and worked by convict labour. Four lamps were shining in May 1849; a larger lamp was installed in August 1849.

A timeball apparatus mounted on top of the bluestone tower operated regularly until 1926. Its original use was as a signalling device to ships. From 1858 until 1926 the large ball on the top was dropped each afternoon at one o'clock to allow shipmasters moored offshore to correct their chronometers. The Timeball Tower/Lighthouse had an additional time signal at eight o'clock each night by means of eclipsing the lantern of the lighthouse.

The timeball ceased to operate in August 1926 and the apparatus was dismantled. In 1932, the Timeball Tower was adapted for use as a lighthouse by increasing the height to 98ft by the addition of a circular brick tower 30ft in height. A large copper ball encircled the mast and rested in a catcher cup of iron when not in use. The lighthouse operated in this fashion until 1987. In 1989, the circular brick tower was removed by the Williamstown Historical Society so that the square tower could be restored and the timeball apparatus replaced. 

Sources:
* Heritage Register of Victoria
* Australian: Lighthouses
* Lighthouses of Australia Inc

PHOTOGRAPHS

Photographed by K. Eggleston, 13 May 2001 & 15 July 2000 © Kristie Eggleston

MAP & ACCESS DETAILS

Access The lighthouse/timeball tower is located in a reserve accessible to the public, at the south end of Nelson Place. The tower is spotlit at night. (Melway reference 56 F10).

LINKS

	Grant & Tracey's Lighthouse pages	State Library of Victoria (c. 1961)
	Lighthouses of Australia Inc	State Library of Victoria (c. 1961)
	Garry Searle's Australian Lighthouses	Heritage Register of Victoria
	Images of Old Williamstown	Parks Victoria