Dec 9, 2020

Cape Schanck Lighthouse Reserve - Part I

Updated: Jan 13, 2021

Experience a historic lighthouse, beautiful coastal scenery, marine life and enjoy a picnic at the Cape Schanck Lighthouse Reserve. About an hour and twenty-minute drive from Melbourne CBD Cape Schanck Lighthouse Reserve provides a great day trip for nature lovers.

Cape Schanck Lighthouse reserve is a part of Parks Victoria. The reserve includes the Lighthouse, the old residences of the lighthouse keeper and a maritime museum within the old assistants' quarters.

The cliffs at Cape Schanck rise 80 metres above the ocean and the lighthouse rises another 21 metres over overlooking the Bass Straits.

In 1859 Cape Schanck Lighthouse was built as the second coastal lighthouse in Victoria. It is located on the southernmost tip of the Mornington Peninsula sitting at the top of the clifftop overlooking the Bass Strait. The tower was built from limestone and stands at 21 metres tall. This working lighthouse keeps the shipping lanes safe for boats of all types as they pass Mornington Peninsula to and from Melbourne.

The Lighthouse is constructed using limestone blocks with a decorative bracketed gallery, rock face base, tapered window and with a rare stone spiral staircase (one of only three pre 1863 surviving Lighthouses with a stone spiral staircase).

Daily guided tours of the Lighthouse is available between 10.00 am and 4 pm.

Experience mother nature at its best from the Reserve and views of Bass Straits from the Balcony of the Lighthouse.

Explore the surroundings on the Cape Walk to the tip of Cape Schanck to Pulpit Rock. The scenic coastal walk begins from the Kiosk (in the car park) and makes it's way to the staircase and wooden boardwalk at the base of the lighthouse. With several lookouts with views of Devils Desk and Pulpit Rock.