Green Cape Lighthouse

The Green Cape Lighthouse was the second of three mass concrete constructed lighthouse towers in New South Wales, South Solitary Island the first and Smokey Cape the third. All three were designed by James Barnett. The lighthouse is situated in the picturesque Beowa National Park. 

History

The construction of Green Cape lighthouse was undertaken by Albert Aspinall who had won the tender for 12,936 pounds. Problems occurred during construction when a 6 metre white clay belt was discovered forcing the foundation to be dug to 9 metres.

A five room detached cottage with kitchen, store room and a room for visiting officers was constructed for the head keeper while the assistant keeper’s cottages were semi-detached each with four rooms, a kitchen and storeroom. The cottages are cement rendered brick. 

As work on the site was nearing completion Aspinall was declared bankrupt leading to a short delay. Work was completed by his creditors in November 1883.

The 21 metre lighthouse tower supports a Chance Brothers first order lantern and gun-metal balcony railing, a hallmark of Barnett’s lighthouses.

The lightstation is situated on a point of land projecting from Beowa National Park. It is the southernmost lighthouse in New South Wales.

The original Chance Brothers first order eight sided optic utilised a 6 wick oil burner until 1912 when the light source was upgraded to a 55mm vaporised kerosene burner producing 250,000 cd. The light characteristic was altered a number of times throughout the operational life of the original optic with major changes occurring in 1926 when four optic panels were screened off and in 1962 when conversion to electric operation was undertaken at which time the optic panels were re-arranged into two groups of two. Four of the eight optic panels which had been screened off were removed to Montague Island in 1969. 

In April 1926 the original pedestal was removed and replaced with a mercury float. The rotation speed of the optic was increased from one revolution every eight minutes to one revolution every forty seconds.

The light was electrified in 1962 using diesel generators and upgraded from 475,00 to 1,000,000 candelas in 1967 with conversion to a 1,000 watt bi-post lamp.

The light was automated in April 1992 using a solar powered beacon on the tower balcony. The station was demanned at this time. 

The tower was decommissioned in 1994 and replaced by a solar powered automatic beacon on a steel tower.

In January 2026 work to re-activate the heritage tower was undertaken. Work included installing additional solar power, installing a modernised pedestal drive system and LED array in the heritage optic. The light was re-activated on the 4th of February for testing and once operation is confirmed the steel tower and solar beacon will be removed.  Removal of the skeletal tower and reactivation of the heritage light brings high community appreciation and vastly improves the heritage and tourist values of the Green Cape lightstation.

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Heritage Light

NB: Information is historical data and is not for navigational purposes.