Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
MAN: Montague Island is the largest inshore island on the NSW coast.
Its abundant covering of grass
means it's become a rich breeding ground for birds,
with Aborigines in earlier days
regarding this as fertile hunting grounds.
Underneath its big solar array and historic lighthouse,
we join National Parks ranger Mark Westwood.
Mark, this is some island.
It's a wonderful place, Greg.
We're 9km offshore.
There's nothing like it on the NSW South Coast till you get down here.
It's a lump of granite, volcanic in origin.
And all this greenery amongst it.
Oh, beautiful vegetation. We've got a real paradise out here.
Everywhere you turn on Montague Island,
there's the lighthouse.
It's saved countless ships
and was built from granite quarried on the island.
Now, Mark, back in 1881,
this island would've been transformed by the *** here
of the lighthouse and the keepers' cottages.
Oh, yes, Greg.
They took the very granite we're standing on
and built that tower up there.
And they built these houses for the lighthouse keepers -
a head keeper and two assistants moved in with their families.
You would've got a sense of the isolation of the island,
for the keepers and their families living here.
In the time we've spent here, we've seen strong winds.
Totally cut off from the world.
Oh, you could be isolated for weeks,
or even now, you could be isolated for days.
Are you saying we might not get off?
Oh, well, there's a risk. You never know, Greg.