A view of the landing below the South East Point lighthouse on Wilson's Promontory. The lighthouse was re-victualed by sea and the technique for landing passengers and goods did not materially change for the duration of the time that the lighthouse was manned. It was automated in 1975.
The lighthouse keepers kept a sustantial wooden tender on the landing below the lighthouse. This was winched into the sea when required and the passengers and goods were transferred from the supply boat to the tender which then approached the landing. Passengers were winched to the landing, initially by a cut down barrel, later by breeches buoy, and goods by slings.
Rare.
 
Published in The Illustrated Australian News. 1884.
 
Artist. J. Macfarlane.
 
Wood engraving.
 
228 x 228 mm.
 
Wood engravings were first produced in Europe in the fifteenth century. During the late eighteenth century the process was re-introduced and used for inexpensive illustrated books. The nineteenth century publishing phenomena of the illustrated newspaper was made possible by use of the technique. The process allowed for the illustration and the text to be printed by a single pass through the printing press, using the letterpress method.  It also made it possible for several engravers or even a team to produce and work on a single illustration at the same time.

All the major artists of the period contributed to the illustrations. Some papers acknowledged the artists on the plates but The Australasian Sketcher appears to have had a policy of anonymity. Where known, we have included the artist’s name.