Hornby Lighthouse

Hornby Lighthouse stands at the edge of South Head, striped red and white against the water. It was built in 1858 after two shipwrecks made it clear the entrance to Port Jackson was more dangerous than it looked. Most people recognize the Sydney skyline, not the small light that has been keeping quiet watch beside it for more than a century.

It was designed by Alexander Dawson, though some records credit Mortimer Lewis. The sandstone tower rises about 30 feet, facing the open sea with its stripes and soft curves. It could pass for a Wes Anderson set piece, tidy and deliberate against the horizon.

The story that led to its construction began in tragedy. In 1857, the Dunbar wrecked on the nearby cliffs, taking 122 lives and leaving only one survivor. Two months later, the Catherine Adamson ran aground in the same waters. Public pressure followed, and Hornby Lighthouse was built as a response to grief and necessity.

By 1933, the light was automated. The keepers left, and the lamp moved from kerosene to gas to electricity. The cottages nearby still stand, pale and empty, watching the harbour from their windows as if the next signal might still come.

Today, Hornby is heritage listed and still in use. Visitors reach it by walking the South Head trail past old gun emplacements and wind-polished cliffs. At sunset, the red stripes glow against the sky and the beam cuts clean through the salt air. It feels both out of place and right where it should be, the kind of scene you could walk into and believe you were part of the story.