Page "Maatsuyker Island" Paragraph 5

The lighthouse is located near the south west tip of Maatsuyker Island, probably because its main function originally would have been to warn ships approaching from the west and being blown in an easterly direction by the prevailing westerly winds of the Roaring Forties.

Many ships were shipwrecked on the south and west coasts of Tasmania from the earliest days of sail, until the advent of modern navigation aids, because of a combination of the westerly gales and the dangerous coastline.