Inside the Vaucluse landmark where secrets of the past have been unearthed

Repairs to Macquarie Lightstation, where Australia’s oldest operating lighthouse guides ships away from the rocks littered with historic wrecks, started with something small.

A project that began decades ago to repair the mortar in the old walls next to the coastal walk led to excavations that last year uncovered what heritage experts say was a remarkable archaeological find.

It revealed the footings of two of the four original guardhouses dating back to 1818, when the site’s first lighthouse was completed.

They sat at the corners of a fortress-like compound connected by crenellated walls to protect the original lighthouse, which was designed by convict architect Francis Greenway for governor Lachlan Macquarie. The first lighthouse deteriorated and a replacement, by early colonial architect James Barnet, was lit in 1883.

Following completion of the restoration work, regular tours of the lighthouse and the site in Vaucluse resume from September 6.

More than 200 years ago, Macquarie foreshadowed that the lighthouse would be a monument for “future ages to contemplate”, and critical to protecting commercial interests and trade.

It was designed to “be handsome to behold” and included a barracks and a guardhouse.

The 360-degree views from the lighthouse platform are unparalleled, but hopefully not to die for. The tours carry a warning that people with heart conditions should not attempt the climb.

Small groups will be allowed to climb the 100 steps to the balcony. Access, through a door barely a metre high, is a little tricky.

The site includes the restored Greenway Wall, as it is now called, and a marker locating the first lighthouse. Greenway won his freedom for the design, and his forecast – that the sandstone quarried from the local rock on site would fail – came true.

Organised tours of the lighthouse cost $24 to $40, but Janet Carding, executive director of Sydney Harbour Federation Trust, which manages the heritage-listed site, said access to Macquarie Lightstation was free.

“What we wanted to do is to create things so, if you’re just walking past, you can get more of the story. But then there’s that extra layer of heritage which comes with a guided tour.”

An interpretative panel near the old sandstone walls allows walkers to learn more about the site. It was part of a process to give the public more access to historic properties across Sydney, including guided tours of Cockatoo Island and the fortifications at Middle Head.

“What we want to do is grow our tourism, and make sure that something like this is on a visitor to Sydney’s must-do list.”

They were also uncovering more history of the working lighthouse.

“It was part of Sydney society. People came and worked here,” she said. In its early days, it was quite isolated from the rest of Sydney. “It would’ve been quite a trek out here.”

The interpretative panel shows the importance of the area for First Nations peoples and the dramatic changes to the coastline since the last ice age, when Bondi Beach did not exist.

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