Sweeping the horizon once more: lighthouse reinstated as navigational tool

Designed by NSW colonial architect James Barnet, NSW's southernmost lighthouse is a striking relic of cast concrete and finely axed Melbourne bluestone.

It has stood lifeless since its deactivation three decades ago, only turning on for intermittent anniversaries, its role replaced by an automated steel lattice tower.

But, in February 2026, those years of quiet rebellion came to fruition as Green Cape Lighthouse on the NSW Far South Coast was officially reinstated as a navigational tool.

The project was a joint effort between the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) and National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).

While the recent works have finalised the process, Richard Jermyn, a former resident caretaker, said the lighthouse wouldn't exist today without the intervention of several key figures who fought against the decay of time and bureaucracy.

"AMSA decommissioned the light in 1992, and, I have to say frankly, they probably thought this will never be working again, so they ripped electrics out and drained the mercury," he said.

According to him, Mark Sheriff OAM, who managed the station during the transition from AMSA to National Parks, was the man who single-handedly saved the site.

"If he hadn't done what he'd done, it's quite possible it would have all been abandoned and gone to ruins," Mr Jermyn said.

"He changed the look of the place from being shabby and ruinous to being presentable and worth saving."

During public tours in the late 1990s, visitors frequently asked Mr Jermyn why the light had stopped and if it could be restored.

While some suggested avant-garde solutions like "magnetic levitation" to replace the bath of mercury the light rotated on, the inquiries inspired the former resident caretaker to take matters into his own hands.

"I did a lot of work there that I wasn't supposed to do. But the work I did is what I considered appropriate," Mr Jermyn admitted.

"I just did it because I regarded myself as acting in the tradition of the lighthouse service.

"My responsibility was to ensure the reliable exhibition of the main light."

Seeking technical expertise at the time, Mr Jermyn contacted AMSA's Brisbane office with a hypothetical: if someone wanted to restore the light, how would they do it?

They gave him the number of Ian Clifford.

Ian Clifford, electronic technologist and president of Lighthouses of Australia, noted that some officials in the late 20th century were "anti-heritage," making it intentionally difficult to restart decommissioned lights.

However, the men who worked on Green Cape were different, and "loved the lights and respected the history", so they chose to do things in ways that were "advantageous down the track".

Working from guides provided by Ken Sutton-Jones, a former managing director at Chance Brothers, Mr Clifford and Mr Jermyn began the delicate task of restoring the pedestal and handling the mercury bed the light rotates on.

"We followed the working documents for safety and handling to the T," Mr Clifford said.

"There was never a vapour problem in the tower. I knew from working on seven other mercury floats that it wouldn't be an issue, and we proved it to Parks with measurements."

The light was turned on at the turn of the millennium at midnight, January 1, 2000.

Both Mr Jermyn and Mr Clifford also conducted further extensive works a number of years later prior to the lighthouse's 125^th birthday in November 2008.

In early January 2026, Mr Clifford returned to Green Cape with a refined methodology.

"We actually drained out every last bit of mercury, cleaned it, treated it, and wound the pedestal back up. It was the same mercury Richard [Jermyn] had supplied years before," he said.

AMSA principal adviser for aids to navigation engineering, Greg Hansen, said reinstating began when his team was assessing the end of life of the existing steel tower.

"Back in 2020, we were originally contacted by National Parks to see, from their end, whether it was even a feasible option that we should be considering relighting the old lighthouse," Mr Hansen said.

"We got great support from Parks and then we put that into our business case and went forward as a viable option. Cost was definitely not the overriding requirement.

"We looked at repairing the tower we had in situ, considered installing another tower, assessed going back into the lighthouse.

"We considered costs and the benefits including community and heritage. Returning to the lighthouse was the one that stood out."

The $500,000 restoration project has bridged the gap between 1883 and 2026, marrying Victorian-era craftsmanship with cutting-edge LED technology.

"The technology of the LED is fairly unique," Mr Hansen said.

"We've adopted it to about 30 other lighthouses around Australia.

"Through connections, we were able to explore research and development technology and we brought the LED to Australia in 2014."

Mr Hansen said the new LED produced the same amount of light as the one that used to be on the steel tower, with the same flashing rate of two every 15 seconds.

"We were able to have our own stand-alone power supply with a connection to a generator in case we need it, because we need uninterrupted power," he said, explaining the new wall of solar panels at the site.

"It's great to see a lighthouse like this return to its intended purpose by adopting new technologies with minimal impact on important assets."

For Mr Clifford, who has guided more than 30,000 people through various lighthouses, some on behalf of AMSA, the importance of a "working" light could not be overstated.

He compared a static lighthouse to a steam engine sitting cold in a museum.

"You can imagine if a 12-year-old is looking at a steam engine and it's not hissing, not hot, not steaming and not pulling a train, perhaps instead sitting in a museum, it's a stretch for the imagination," he said.

"The great thing about having Green Cape reinstated is you can walk someone into it and see straight away how it works.

"Working heritage is heritage that's more likely to survive."

Mr Clifford said shipping duties for navigational aids and lighthouses were charges levied on commercial vessels to fund the construction, operation, and maintenance of aids to navigation that ensure safe passage.

"Lighthouses are a visible day aid because they are painted white and a night aid because they flash a light," he said.

While GPS was used predominantly nowadays, lighthouses were extremely vital to cross-reference locations, with most mariners noting the importance of such "reliable and secure" buildings.

As the beam once again swept across the ocean, the reinstatement project stood as a victory for those who refused to let the light go out.

"The fact it will be working, demonstrating heritage that will still do the job it was built to do after 143 years - I'm very happy about that," Mr Clifford said.