Five of the Best Lighthouses in Australia

To celebrate International Lighthouse Weekend, happening all over the world this weekend, we wanted to share Five of our Favourite Australian Lighthouses with you. Get into the spirit of things, and seek out tales of lighthouse keepers, their families and shipwrecks.

Split Point Light House

Split Point Lighthouse is located in Aireys Inlet, a small town on the Great Ocean Road, Victoria, Australia, standing 34m in height. Taking a walk along Fairhaven Beach, with the lighthouse at the far east end of it is one of the best beach walks in Australia. Lighthouse Cafe, around 100m from the actual lighthouse, has awesome coffee and scones on offer - yum!

Cape Byron Lighthouse

Cape Byron Lighthouse is the Eastern-most point of Australia. It is 23m in height and opened in 1901, with another unique element being that it has a castle-looking building at its base. Positioned high atop a cliff on our eastern boundary, it is probably the best place to view migrating whales during visits from May to November.

Cape Otway Light Station

Cape Otway Lighthouse is the oldest surviving lighthouse on mainland Australia and considered the most significant. Built in 1848, it is known as the ‘Beacon of Hope’ for thousands of emigrants, as this was their first sight of Australia as ships from Europe, North America and Asia emerged out of the vast Southern Ocean, on their way to Geelong, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. It is 20m tall, but it sits on a 70 metre high cliff, towering some 90 metres above Bass Strait. A fascinating piece of history is the tale that they once ran a submarine telegraph cable along the ocean floor from Cape Otway to Tasmania for communication. It only lasted six months before it broke…

Port Fairy Lighthouse

Situated on Griffith Island, it is by no means Australia’s tallest at only 12.5 metres tall. To get there you have to walk for around ten minutes and there is a great surf break at the lighthouse (no points given to those who can guess the name of this wave).

Gabo Island Lighthouse

Gabo Island Lighthouse is the second tallest in Australia at 47metres high. It was buit in 1853. Situated on Gabo Island on the border or Victoria and NSW, the area is known as the Wilderness Coast. No-one is allowed on the island except the lighthouse keeper and his guests. It is one of the only places we have ever visited with pink rocks, which they used to build the lighthouse. They also used these incredible pink rocks to build Victoria’s Government House.

Our family loves getting out to visit Australia’s landmarks, and lighthouses are at the top of our list of favourite iconic places for their sense of history and marvellous engineering. Which one is your favourite Lighthouse? Let us know so we can add it to our list of adventures to explore, engage and enjoy. To learn more about the annual ‘International Lighthouse Weekend’ click here.