Cape Willoughby - SA

Experience a step back in time and treat you and your loved ones to a stay in one of two beautifully restored Heritage listed Lighthouse Keepers Cottage at stunning Cape Willoughby on stunning Kangaroo Island.
The very first Lighthouse built in South Australia in 1852, Situated at the breathtaking eastern most part of Kangaroo Island, only 30 minutes drive from the Ferry terminal at Penneshaw you will find Cape Willoughby Lighthouse and Keepers Cottages, overlooking Backstairs Passage, where many a ship was wrecked at the Scraper Bar Reef or Ylata Shoal Reef by Cape St Albans in bygone days. Enjoy spectacular sunrises, listen to the waves crashing onto the nearby cliffs and catch a glimpse of a Sea Eagle.
The light provides assistance to shipping through the Backstairs Passage - the 11 km wide strip of water between Kangaroo Island and the mainland of South Australia. It is constructed from granite and limestone quarried from a cleft in the cliff, known as Devil’s Kitchen, at the base of the tower.
The original keeper’s settlement was in a valley, ½ km from the light. Here a spring provided fresh water and it was close to the beach where supplies where landed. Due to deterioration and the hardship of reaching the lighthouse in bad weather in 1927 new keepers quarters were built at the lighthouse.
The original apparatus was a Deville lantern comprising of revolving parabolic reflectors powered by a clock work mechanism. The illumination was provided by multiple wick burners. In 1912 the wick burners were replaced by incandescent vaporised kerosene burners. The whole lantern apparatus was replaced in 1923 by an order number one Chance Bros. dioptric revolving lens which floated in a bath of mercury on a pedestal. This lantern had previously been in use at the Tipara Reef Lighthouse. Illumination was provided by a pressurised kerosene mantle burner.
Regular guided tours of the Lightstation are available every day except Christmas day;