Temporal setting: 1918
Location notes:
Tom's first posting as an ex-serviceman in the Commonwealth Lighthouse Service was to Byron Bay. Cape Byron lighthouse is located at Australia's most easterly point.
In 1770 Captain James Cook named Byron Bay after the poet Lord George Byron's grandfather, British navigator Admiral John Byron. Byron Bay is located in the Bundjalung Aboriginal language group region. The Arakwal people are recognised as the Aboriginal traditional custodians of the Byron Bay district. The Indigenous place name for Byron Bay is Cavenbah/Cavanba/Cavvanbah, which means "meeting place." Cape Byron headland is known as Walgun, which means "the shoulder" and the surrounding rainforest area was called Gubangah, or "big scrub." For more information, see http://arakwal.com.au/ and http://www.byron-bay.com/byronbay/aboriginal.html
Quotes
'It's no picnic. Not that Byron Bay's the worst posting on the Lights, but I want to make sure you know what you're in for.'
(p. 15)
The six months' relief posting at Byron Bay, up on the New South Wales coast, with two other keepers and their families, taught Tom the basics of life on the Lights.
(p. 16)
Temporal setting: 1926s
Location notes:
Janus Rock is a fictional island located 160 km (100 miles) off the southwest coast of Western Australia.
According to Keith and Susan Hall, "The island with its lighthouse is actually fictional. But
you get a good idea of what it is like by looking at Cape Leeuwin in the southwest of Western
Australia, where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean. Just imagine that
long, thin cape being moved 100 miles out to sea, and that’s Janus Island" (see Somewhere Else).
Quotes
The other side of the island looked back, fretful, toward the Australian mainland nearly a hundred miles away, not quite belonging to the land, yet not quite free of it, the highest of a string of under-sea mountains that rose from the ocean floor like teeth along a jagged jaw bone, waiting to devour any innocent ships in their final dash for harbour.
As if to make amends, the island – Janus Rock – offered a lighthouse, its beam providing a mantle of safety for thirty miles.
(p. 9-10)
Gallery
Temporal setting: 1919
Location notes:
Tom's second post as a lighthouse keeper was to Maatsuyker Island, which is where Australia's southernmost lighthouse is located.
Maatsuyker Island has a long history of habitation by the Nuenonne Aboriginal language group of southern Tasmania. In 1642, Abel Tasman reportedly named the island after a member of the council of the Dutch East India Company, Johan Maetsuiker. For more information see:
http://www.seasidelights.com.au/au/tas/Maatsuyker.asp?fState=TAS
Quotes
He followed that with a stint on Maatsuyker, the wild island south of Tasmania where it rained most days of the year and the chickens blew into the sea during storms.
(p. 16)
Temporal setting: 1926
Location notes:
According to Keith and Susan Hall, "The town of Partageuse in ML Stedman’s novel The Light
between Oceans is fictitious. It’s nearest equivalent in real life is the town
of Augusta, about 8km from Cape Leeuwin in the southwest
of Western Australia" (see Somewhere Else).
The town of Augusta, settled by Europeans in 1830, is one of the oldest settlements in Western Australia. It was named after Princess Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge and daughter of King George III. Augusta is located in the Wardandi Aboriginal language group region.
Quotes
The community of Partageuse had drifted together
like so much dust in a breeze, settling in this spot where two oceans met,
because there was fresh water and a natural harbor and good soil. Its port was
no rival to Albany, but convenient for locals shipping timber or sandalwood or
beef.
(p. 22)
Gallery
Temporal setting: 1926
Location notes:
In her review of the novel for Griffith Review, Danielle Wood states that Stedman "recasts the coastline" of Western Australia, "replacing Cape Leeuwin with ‘Point Partageuse,’ beyond which lies the fictional Janus Island."
Cape Leeuwin is the most south-westerly point of Australia where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean. It is located in the Wardandi Aboriginal language group region and it was named by Europeans after the Dutch ship first known to have sighted the coastline in 1622, the Leeuwin (meaning Lioness).
Gallery
