South Head

Constructed after two disastrous shipwrecks, Hornby lighthouse has offered safe passage into Sydney Harbour since 1858.

Early colonial Sydney relied on the safe arrival of ships bringing goods and supplies into the harbor and the construction of lighthouses has a long history. Today a Sydney landmark, the Macquarie lighthouse still stands proud and tall against the dramatic beauty of South Head.

Used by Aboriginal people as a base for settlement, fishing, shellfish collection, art and associated rituals, South Head became the landmark of arrival at Sydney after European settlement. A lookout, signal station, lighthouse and fortifications were built there at different times, to keep ships from shipwreck and to protect the settlement. It is now a series of parks.

For the colony's first 50 years the signal station was a basic lookout hut, a flagpole and a signal staff for semaphore flag signals. A new signal house was built in 1841, and added to over the years, until the station went out of official use in 1992. Now run by volunteers, the station provides visual signals for recreational sailors.