The Last Lighthouse Keeper

John Cook author Jon Bauer author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Allen & Unwin

Published:6th May '21

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The Last Lighthouse Keeper cover

In Tasmania, John Cook is known as 'The Keeper of the Flame'. As one of Australia's longest-serving lighthouse keepers, John spent 26 years tending Tasmania's well-known kerosene 'lights' at Tasman Island, Maatsuyker Island and Bruny Island.

From sleepless nights keeping the lights alive, battling the wind and sea as they ripped at gutters and flooded stores, raising a joey, tending sheep and keeping ducks and chickens, the life of a keeper was one of unexpected joy and heartbreak. But for John, nothing was more heartbreaking than the introduction of electric lights, and the lighthouses that were left empty forever.

Evocatively told, The Last Lighthouse Keeper is a love story between a man and a dying way of life, as well as a celebration of wilderness and solitude.

John Cook's (with Jon Bauer) ripping life story strips away the romanticism of Tasmania's old kero-fuelled lighthouses to expose living there for what it was: relentless physically and emotionally demanding labour, done under the often cruel vagaries of nature. Noble work that can ultimately redeem a lost soul. Or break them. - Matt Evans

  • Long-listed for Best Non-fiction 2021 (Australia)

ISBN: 9781760875381

Dimensions: 235mm x 155mm x 28mm

Weight: 475g

352 pages