Captain Cook Memorial and Lighthouse Upgrade

News: The project has been completed and was officially opened on Tuesday 16 July 2024.

The refurbished Captain Cook Memorial and Lighthouse at Point Danger.The upgrade of Captain Cook Memorial and Lighthouse on the NSW/QLD border is complete.

The facility now accommodates the Marine Rescue NSW operations centre at Point Danger, a café and gallery as well as public toilet facilities. The café is now open for business.

The upgrade has rejuvenated the area and provides safe and wheelchair-friendly access around the building and up to the viewing deck.

The new café has tabled seating both inside and outside on the public viewing lower deck, serving coffee, finger-food and ice-creams.

About

The Captain Cook Memorial and Lighthouse was built in 1971 as a joint project between City of Gold Coast, Tweed Shire Council and the Commonwealth Department of Shipping and Transport to commemorate the 200^th anniversary of the voyage along the east coast of Australia by Captain James Cook on the HMS Endeavour.

The building was extended in 1990 to accommodate the Volunteer Marine Rescue NSW service. Now, nearly 30 years on, the extension has a number of defects and the cost to maintain it fit for occupation is no longer sustainable.

This prompted a $6.5 million renovation which commenced in November 2022.

Straddling the NSW-QLD border, Point Danger is not only a must-see destination for visitors to the Tweed and Gold Coasts with its spectacular views, but a critical viewpoint for the incredible volunteers at Marine Rescue NSW who monitor and guide the safety of mariners crossing the Tweed River bar, to seawards as well as in-shore.

The upper viewing deck at the Captain Cook memorial and Lighthouse.

The Point Danger site and memorial building are busy pedestrian precincts. The location is adjacent to the Coolangatta Centaur Memorial and Walk of Remembrance and with views over Rainbow Bay and Duranbah beaches.

The site also has significant cultural heritage for Indigenous Australians. Heritage consultants have advised that the aesthetics of the original border markers are to remain and the rebuild is to be low impact and consistent with the original border marker structure built in 1971.

The new building retains the heritage aspects of the original building and essentially has the same look from the street. New public toilets and a gallery in the café area have been added to showcase the site’s history, including Aboriginal cultural heritage storyboards and photographs.

Bundjalung/Yugambeh artist and graphic designer Christine Slabb from Fingal Head has been engaged to provide the Indigenous storyboards and artworks for the gallery and landscaped environment.

Storyboards also will display narratives around the rescue service and a brief history of the construction of the lighthouse.

The gallery/café operates 7 days a week, from 6 am to 8 pm.

Funding

The $6.5 million funds to renovate this heritage building, which straddles the Queensland/NSW border, have been jointly provided by:

• NSW Government’s Cross Border Commissioner’s Infrastructure Fund ($2,023,449)
• NSW Government’s Restart NSW Regional Growth – Environment and Tourism Fund ($973,000)
• City of Gold Coast ($1,990,000)
• Tweed Shire Council ($1,514,000)
• NSW Office of Environment and Heritage ($50,000).

Tweed Shire Council managed the upgrade works.

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