The stories of Eclipse Island and the lighthouse atop it, which celebrated its centenary birthday earlier this month, are fascinating ones.

The island itself — a small and barren parcel of land located about 17km south of Albany — was first recorded by Europeans in 1791 and named for the eclipse of the sun that was occurring when Captain George Vancouver sighted it.

It was known as a brutal hunting ground for gangs of sealers, who were rumoured to have kept Aboriginal women as slaves there.

A shipwreck on the nearby Northumberland Rock in 1868 demonstrated the need for a lighthouse atop the island but it wasn’t until almost 60 years later in 1926 that one was built in the form of a 14m reinforced concrete structure.

Fuelled by kerosene, it was the first Commonwealth lighthouse built in WA, and was turned on on July 1, 1926.

Three small homes were built nearby to house three lighthouse keepers and their families.

In an episode of the Stories of the Great Southern podcast, James Taylor — the son of the last head lighthouse keeper — recounts his childhood on the island, where he lived from the age of eight.

“Living on those lighthouses were an exercise in observing human nature, especially Eclipse Island as it was a triplex ” he said.

“If you were in the middle house, you would hear all the noise coming from one side, so you got it in stereo when you were in the middle house.

“Whenever Dad made a cup of tea, the Hills family would say, ‘all I can hear is Ronnie stirring the tea’.

“When we saw them a couple of years ago, Debbie Hill said: ‘Your dad, the way you used to stir the cups’. This is 50 years ago and she remembered him stirring his cups of tea.

“I always remember there were falling outs, and if you got people with difficult personalities to put in that that fishbowl for years at a time, that was another thing, why my mother became more isolated.

“It was easier just not to relate to anyone, to just stick to yourself so you don’t get into petty squabbles.”

In his book Lighthouses of Albany, Stan Austin, a seaman who was contracted to complete the often treacherous journey from the mainland to Eclipse, detailed the work required by those manning the lighthouse.

“There were many who think that the lives of lighthouse keepers and their wives were just one peaceful holiday with little work. This is not so, of course,” he wrote.

“The keepers were constantly carrying out maintenance on the gear at the landing. The derrick had to be painted annually, each time a different colour, to prove it had been done. The lenses and glass covering of the light had to be regularly cleaned.

“Also as a meteorological station, records had to be kept and forwarded on. At night, the keepers on continuous shift had to wind by hand the mechanism that revolved the very valuable lenses around a sophisticated stationary kerosene lamp.

“A watch had to be maintained for passing ships, which under international law, were subject to fees for lighthouses in their area.”

While isolation on the island was no doubt difficult, those wanting to leave had a different challenge to face.

With the island rising 350ft out of the water on all sides, there are no natural places for the fortnightly provision boats to land and transfer their loads.

This was solved by the creation of a derrick crane and wicker basket, via which all stores, supplies and people were winched up the steep cliff face and onto a precarious wooden ledge.

This method was dicey at the best of times, with Mr Taylor’s wife Dal recalling her mother-in-law Evelyn, who “never liked the ocean” in the first place, crouching down on the floor of the basket with her arms over her head until it was landed.

A fatal accident in 1976 where two men were flung from the pulley hook onto the rocks below resulted in the lighthouse becoming automated and the families returning to the mainland.

The wicker basket, a dinghy used to access the island and the lighthouse’s lantern, created by the famed Chance Brothers, now lives in the Museum of the Great Southern on display.

The triplex homes, while not in good condition and still decked out in old furniture remain on the island, as does the lighthouse.