The independent Commonwealth of Australia occupies the entire Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. British exploration and settling of the continent began late in the 1700s, with the first colony established in the Sydney area in 1788. By the 1850s there were six British colonies, including New South Wales and Queensland in the east, Victoria and South Australia in the south, Western Australia in the west, and Tasmania off the south coast. The Commonwealth was formed on New Years Day 1901 as a federation of the six colonies. Australia is both the smallest continent and the sixth-largest country in the world, with a population of about 26 million. It continues to be a federation of the six original states, plus the federally administered Northern Territory, Australian Capital Territory, and Jervis Bay Territory. It is a Commonwealth Realm recognizing the British monarch as head of state. Located in the southeastern part of Australia, the state of New South Wales faces east on the Tasman Sea and includes the nation's largest metropolitan area, Sydney. It has about 35 historic light stations and an impressive collection of surviving lighthouses. Many of these lighthouses were built during a single decade, 1875-1885, on designs drawn by James Barnet (1827-1904), who held the post of Colonial Architect from 1862 to 1890. The lanterns and galleries of Barnet's lighthouses have a distinctive and elegant style illustrated by the Barrenjoey Head lighthouse shown at the right. Most New South Wales lighthouses are accessible but only a few are open for climbing. Although there is no state preservation society there have been many successful local preservation efforts. This page includes lighthouses of the northern half of the state, from the Queensland border south through the Central Coast Region to Barrenjoey Head. The Southern New South Wales page includes lighthouses from Sydney Harbour to the Victoria border. Coastal aids to navigation in Australia are maintained by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA). Harbor lights are maintained by NSW Maritime or by the Port Authority of New South Wales (formerly Sydney Ports). Some of the light stations are parklands managed by the N.S.W. Department of Environment and Heritage. Many of the others are managed by the N.S.W. Crown Lands Division. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights, Admiralty numbers are from volume K of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals, and U.S. NGA numbers are from NGA Publication 111.
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Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: North: Southern Queensland | South: Southern New South Wales
Return to the Lighthouse Directory index | Ratings key
Posted April 2004; checked and revised February 9, 2025. Lighthouses: 24. Site copyright 2025 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.