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. The state of South Australia occupies the south central portion of the Australian continent, facing the Southern Ocean. The lighthouses of South Australia are all found in the southeastern part of the state; there are none on the long, very lightly populated coast of the Great Australian Bight to the west. The eastern coast of South Australia is broken by two large embayments, Gulf Saint Vincent and Spencer Gulf, separated by the Yorke Peninsula. Kangaroo Island is a large island lying off Gulf Saint Vincent and separated from the Yorke Peninsula by Investigator Strait. The state capital, Adelaide, is on the east coast of Gulf Saint Vincent. Nearly all South Australian lighthouses are managed by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), but after automation a number of the light station properties were transferred to the control of the state parks administration, National Parks and Wildlife Service South Australia. Special thanks to Garry Searle for reviewing this page before it was posted and adding some valuable information. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Admiralty numbers are from volume Q of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA numbers are from Publication 111.
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Southeast (Limestone Coast) Lighthouses
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Murray Lakes, Fleurieu Peninsula, and Adelaide Area Lighthouses
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Kangaroo Island Lighthouses
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Yorke Peninsula and Upper Spencer Gulf Lighthouses
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Eyre Peninsula Lighthouses
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![]() Wedge Island Light, Spencer Gulf, April 2017 Wikimedia Creative Commons photo by Wedge island holiday accommodation |
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![]() South Neptune Island Light AMSA photo |
Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses: |
Adjoining pages: East: Victoria | West: South Western Australia
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Posted 2004. Checked and revised March 9, 2025. Lighthouses: 46. Site copyright 2025 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.