One observant Narooma area resident on Tuesday evening noticed the lighthouse light on Montague Island was not shining.
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Barb MacKenzie of Kianga said she went down to the Kianga Headland to watch the sunset and evening light on Tuesday.
As it got darker, she noticed the lighthouse light was not shining and so stuck around until after dark to make sure. Still no light.
Then on Wednesday morning she stopped in at the Narooma Visitor Information Centre to see if she could find out about the lack of light, where the Narooma News just happened to be covering another story.
We made some inquiries on her behalf to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority who oversees Australia’s lighthouses and other maritime navigation aids.
An AMSA spokesperson confirmed there had been a fault reported at the Montague Island lightstation the week before but that contractors had travelled out to the island to make repairs.
There were no reports of additional faults subsequently, he said, and so it was a bit of a mystery as to why Barb MacKenzie could not see the light on Tuesday night.
The good news is that she went down to Kianga Headland again on Wednesday night to specifically check on the light and yes it was shining as per normal.
AMSA is keen to hear about any faults with any of its navigation aids including lighthouses and reports can be made to the Aids to Navigation team on 6279 5000.