Back to search results

CAPE SCHANCK LIGHTSTATION
164-420 CAPE SCHANCK ROAD CAPE SCHANCK, MORNINGTON PENINSULA SHIRE

All information on this page is maintained by Heritage Victoria. Click below for their website and contact details.
Victorian Heritage Register
CAPE SCHANCK LIGHTSTATION SOHE 2008
CAPE SCHANCK LIGHTSTATION SOHE 2008
CAPE SCHANCK LIGHTSTATION SOHE 2008
1 cape schanck
1 cape schanck light station cape schanck lighthouse controls aug1998
schanck plan
On this page:

Statement of Significance

What is significant?
The Cape Schanck Lightstation was constructed in 1857-59 as part of the second campaign of highway or ocean (as opposed to harbour) lighthouse building in Victoria which also produced lights at Wilson?s Promontory and Gabo Island. The early buildings are constructed of locally quarried limestone and are similar in design to those at Wilson?s Promontory and Gabo Island as well as the later quarters at Cape Otway all of which were designed within the Victorian Public Works Department probably by Charles Maplestone. Like Cape Otway there was also a stone signal station but this has been demolished leaving only archaeological remains. Other demolished buildings include the stables and stone privies. Unusual features of Cape Schanck Lightstation are the dispersed layout of the buildings around a central lawn and the retention within the tower of an early clockwork mechanism (despite conversion to automatic operation) and the original 1859 Chance Bros lens. As well as the early buildings there is a red brick 1938 residence and some later utility buildings. One half of the early duplex assistants' quarters has been converted to a museum while the other has been converted to a generator room. A separate weatherboard kitchen block was built in 1887 for these tiny dwellings but was itself converted to a spare residence in the 1960s. Cape Schanck, along with other Victorian ocean lightstations, was handed over to the Commonwealth after Federation. All the transferred lightstations, now automated, were returned to Victoria in 1995.

How is it significant?
The Cape Schanck Lightstation is of historical, architectural, scientific, social and archaeological importance to the State of Victoria.

Why is it significant?
The Cape Schanck Lightstation is historically and architecturally important as a complex of lighthouse and lightkeepers' quarters which has been in continuous operation since 1859. It is a manifestation of the increasing importance of Bass Strait as a shipping route in the 1850s and was a direct result of Intercolonial co-operation which presaged Federation. The limestone tower and quarters are architecturally significant as relatively intact purpose designed buildings designed in the Victorian Public Works Department probably by Charles Maplestone.

The Cape Schanck Lightstation is scientifically (technologically) important as a fine example of nineteenth century lighthouse technology, particularly the 1859 lens array manufactured by famous lighthouse manufacturer Chance Bros of Birmingham, the first of its type imported into Victoria.

The Cape Schanck Lightstation is socially important because its location, layout and design contribute to an understanding of the isolated life and critically important function of lightkeepers, particularly in the nineteenth century.

The Cape Schanck Lightstation is archaeologically important for its potential to reveal significant artefact remains pertaining to the use of the place as a lightstation and signal station. There are several recorded sites of former rubbish dumps which have already yielded household artefacts. As well there are the sites of demolished buildings, in particular the signal station, which have a high archaeological potential.

Show more
Show less

    • History

      CAPE SCHANCK LIGHTSTATION - History

      See Cape Schanck Conservation Management Plan prepared by Clive Lucas, Stapleton and Partners in May 1995 as amended by Ivar Nelsen and Patrick Miller in September 1998.
      Associated People: Owner DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES;

      Permit Exemptions

      CAPE SCHANCK LIGHTSTATION - Permit Exemptions

      General Exemptions:

      General exemptions apply to all places and objects included in the Victorian Heritage Register (VHR). General exemptions have been designed to allow everyday activities, maintenance and changes to your property, which don’t harm its cultural heritage significance, to proceed without the need to obtain approvals under the Heritage Act 2017.

      Places of worship: In some circumstances, you can alter a place of worship to accommodate religious practices without a permit, but you must notify the Executive Director of Heritage Victoria before you start the works or activities at least 20 business days before the works or activities are to commence.

      Subdivision/consolidation: Permit exemptions exist for some subdivisions and consolidations. If the subdivision or consolidation is in accordance with a planning permit granted under Part 4 of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 and the application for the planning permit was referred to the Executive Director of Heritage Victoria as a determining referral authority, a permit is not required.

      Specific exemptions may also apply to your registered place or object. If applicable, these are listed below. Specific exemptions are tailored to the conservation and management needs of an individual registered place or object and set out works and activities that are exempt from the requirements of a permit. Specific exemptions prevail if they conflict with general exemptions.

      Find out more about heritage permit exemptions here.

      Specific Exemptions:

      EXEMPTIONS FROM PERMITS:
      (Classes of works or activities which may be undertaken without a permit under Part 4 of the Heritage Act 1995)

      General Conditions:
      1. All alterations are to be planned and carried out in a manner which prevents damage to the fabric of the registered place or object.
      2. Should it become apparent during further inspection or the carrying out of
      alterations that original or previously hidden or inaccessible details of the
      place or object are revealed which relate to the significance of the place or
      object, then the exemption covering such alteration shall cease and the
      Executive Director shall be notified as soon as possible.
      3. If there is a conservation policy and plan approved by the Executive
      Director, all works shall be in accordance with it.
      4. Nothing in this declaration prevents the Executive Director from amending
      or rescinding all or any of the permit exemptions.
      5. Nothing in this declaration exempts owners or their agents from the
      responsibility to seek relevant planning or building permits from the
      responsible authority where applicable.

      * No permits are required for works which are in accordance with the
      Conservation Management Plan prepared by Clive Lucas, Stapleton and Partners in May 1995 as amended by Ivar Nelsen and Patrick Miller in September 1998.

      Permit Exemption Policy

      CAPE SCHANCK LIGHTSTATION - Permit Exemption Policy

      Lightstations are special places with a special ambience. While they have great appeal for visitation and high tourist potential, overdevelopment is highly undesirable and should be avoided. Conservation plans have been developed for most lightstations which give guidance for the physical treatment of buildings and features. Within the constraints inherent in managing what are fairly delicate places, there remain opportunities to enhance the physical fabric by appropriate conservation works and to retrieve former bad practice.

      The importance of the lightstation lies in its intactness and layout. There is a conservation management plan in place which addresses the lightstation itself (referred to in Permit Exemptions). Another useful guide which places the lightstation in a wider context is the Cape Schanck Precinct Master Plan prepared by Gerner Consulting Group Pty Ltd, Barrack Douglas & Company, and Wilde and Woollard for Parks Victoria and dated December 1998.

  • Images See all images

Public contributions

Images See all images

Note: Developments may span multiple time periods
Timeline browser

< to 1849
< - 1849
1850 to 1879
1850 - 1879
1880 to 1909
1880 - 1909
1910 to 1939
1910 - 1939
1940 to 1969
1940 - 1969
1970 to 1999
1970 - 1999
2000 to >
2000 - >