About
The Port Melbourne Lighthouses (beacons) were built in 1924. They were both utilized to guide ships by marking the center of the Port Melbourne Channel from Port Phillip Bay. They are historically significant as structures surviving from an important shipping eras of activity during the 1920s and 1930s and later post war migration.
The Port Melbourne lighthouses consist of two beacons. The front light is offshore between Station and Princes Pier, while the rear light is located about 600 meters inland, in what was once an industrial port area. It is now surrounded by homes in the middle of the Beacon Cove housing estate, on a easement following the line of sight between the land-based light to the water-based light.
The 26-meter-high rear beacon is unusual in that it has a particularly narrow arc of 1.5 degrees.
It would be easy to think that they are just a relic of the past, but even today ships proceeding up Port Phillip Bay still rely on the light from the historic rear tower to steer a course to Melbourne.
The citation on the Victorian Heritage Register says, “The Port Melbourne Leading Lights are of architectural and historic significance as a rare building type in Victoria because of the materials and form adopted which represents a notable application of the Trinity lighthouse design to a navigational installation of this type.”
The front light is also unusual in that it is a tapered wooden-framed light built on piles, with the rear light made of concrete.
Know Before You Go
Both lights are accessible via a park at the rear of the new housing estate. The road that ran along side it has been filled over and converted to parkland. They are also accessible via public transport to nearby Station Pier and the shorefront walkway and bicycle path from Port Melbourne.
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Published
October 6, 2025
