MV Cape Don, Balls Head
MV Cape Don
MV Cape Don was built in 1963 and served the Australian Lighthouse Service for three decades, supplying remote lighthouses around the Australian coast with fuel, food, and equipment. The vessel carried crews of lighthouse keepers to stations along the continent's most isolated shorelines. She was decommissioned in 1990 after the automated light program made lighthouse tenders redundant.
The ship came to rest at Balls Head on Sydney Harbour, moored at the industrial wharf below the coal loader. Her engine room, galley, crew quarters, and working decks remained intact. The main engine — a heavy diesel unit occupying the full height of the engine room — sits in the same position it occupied when the vessel was in service.
The combination of industrial machinery, domestic fittings, and harbour light filtering through portholes makes the Cape Don a distinctive subject. It is a working vessel stopped mid-voyage, every system present and in place.
Browse the MV Cape Don print collection — printed on Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag archival paper, limited editions signed by Brett Patman.