John Cook John Cook i(19295248 works by)
Born: Established:
c
United Kingdom (UK),
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Western Europe, Europe,
;
Gender: Male
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BiographyHistory

'John Cook moved from the UK to Tasmania as a boy with his mother at the outbreak of World War II. John grew up loving the natural environment and being very practical. After serving in the Australian Navy, being a walking-track maintenance worker, operating a mobile x-ray health scanning unit and running service stations, John joined the Australian Lighthouse Service in 1968. He was a Light Keeper and later Head Keeper at various Tasmanian lights, notably Eddystone Point, Tasman Island and Maatsuyker Island, until 1993. John was also an honorary National Park Ranger.'

Source: Allen and Unwin.

Most Referenced Works

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon The Last Lighthouse Keeper Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2020 19295270 2020 single work autobiography

'A beautiful memoir from John Cook, one of Tasmania's last kerosene lighthouse keepers. A story about madness and wilderness, shining a light onto the vicissitudes of love and nature.

'I loved the life of the island, because I knew my body was more alive than those on the mainland. People asked how we stood the isolation and boredom, but in some ways, it was more stimulating to have your senses turned up to the top.

'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, Bruny Island, Eddystone Point and Maatsuyker 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.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

2021 longlisted Indie Awards Nonfiction
Last amended 15 May 2020 11:43:07
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