A painter scraping rust from a Tasmanian lighthouse has uncovered a 122-year-old message in a bottle that had been hidden in the building’s walls since 1903.
The discovery at Cape Bruny Lighthouse has shed new light on the structure’s history and the people who built and maintained it over a century ago.
Historians and conservators are buzzing about the find, calling it one of the most significant lighthouse-related discoveries in years.
The bottle was found wedged deep in a wall cavity of the historic lantern room during routine conservation work.
What initially appeared to be debris caught the eye of the specialist painter, who recognised something unusual about the glass object sticking out from the weathered timber.
Parks and Wildlife quickly brought in experts from the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) to carefully extract what turned out to be a perfectly preserved time capsule.
“The bottle was sealed with a cork coated in bitumen, which made removal challenging,” TMAG’s Cobus Van Breda said.
“We had to remove the bitumen from the top of the cork, then carefully work our way around the cork to detach it from the glass as the cork had been dipped in bitumen.”
He said that was only half the battle. Getting the message out was even harder.
“It had been folded in way that made it quite challenging to get it through the narrow neck of the bottle without damaging it,” Van Breda said.
Inside, they found an envelope containing a letter dated January 29, 1903, written by J.R. Meech, Inspector of Lighthouses for the Hobart Marine Board.
Meech oversaw many of Tasmania’s key lighthouses, including those at Cape Bruny, Cape Sorell, Maatsuyker Island, Tasman Island, Table Cape and Mersey Bluff.
The letter details upgrades made to Cape Bruny Lighthouse that year including a new staircase, floor, lantern room and lens system.
He meticulously noted costs, described the new flash sequence of the light and, to the delight of researchers, listed everyone who worked on the project.
PWS historic heritage manager Annita Waghorn said the letter’s condition was remarkable, thanks to the airtight seal that protected it from more than a century of wild coastal weather.
“You could feel the excitement in the room when the letter came out in one piece,” she said.
Cape Bruny Lighthouse, first illuminated in 1838, is one of Australia’s oldest lighthouses.
It was lit for the final time in 1996, when it was replaced by a solar powered light nearby.
TMAG conservators will now work to preserve the letter before it goes on public display at a location yet to be confirmed.
