Casquets lighthouses per ton of ship when vessels passed the rocks and in turn he paid Trinity House 50 pounds per year for the right to run the lighthouses. The lighthouses reverted to Trinity House in 1785. They were converted to oil lamps with metal reflectors which were first used on 25 November 1790; and upgraded again with apparatus to rotate a beam of light in 1818. This had a clockwork mechanism which was wound up every hour and a half and gave one flash every 15 seconds. The lighthouses were badly damaged and the lanterns smashed in a severe storm on
Woody Island Lighthouses overseen by Robert Ferguson. Ferguson was employed by Tiffin as a temporary foreman of works from 1864–1870, where, in 1867, wrote specifications for and oversaw construction of the lighthouses at Bustard Head and Sandy Cape. John Simpson was appointed as the first lightkeeper of Woody Island and the lighthouses became operational on 1 October 1867. The two lights were considered as one unit, twin lights that lined up with each other. In the Government Gazette in 1867, Portmaster, GP Heath described how the lights operated together in order to guide vessels through Hervey Bay:When entering Hervey's Bay, steer so as