Physical description

Soft covered 195-page book with sketches, photographs and charts.

Inscriptions & markings

Foreword extract: "In 1848 the vital beam of the nobly proportioned Cape Otway lighthouse first shone out over the perilous, previously unlit, waters of Bass Strait. It has now maintained that watch over its narrow western entrance, the aptly named 'Eye of the Needle', for over a century and a half. During that time ships of all shapes and sizes passed below Cape Otway's high cliffs - clipper ships with a hectare of canvas aloft, their masters determined to achieve the fastest passage out to the goldfields, four-masted grain ships and, by the turn of the century, the punctual, comfortable, Orient liners. They were followed by the battleships of the American White fleet in 1908 and, from time to time, cruiser squadrons of the Royal Navy, showing the flag at the furthest corner of the Empire. The lighthouse and its associated signal station made no distinction between merchant vessel and warship. In this book Ian McKellar examines a little known aspect of the history of Cape Otway - its role in war, more particularly the Second World War between 1939 and 1945. It takes the reader back to a time when Australia was ill-prepared for another war so soon after the conclusion of the Great War."