Point Lonsdale Lighthouse is a 21 m white concrete tower, first lit in 1902, on the headland overlooking the Rip at the entrance to Port Phillip. Volunteers from the Queenscliffe Maritime Museum run 30-minute tours to the top every Sunday from 9:30 am to 1 pm. Book ahead: each tour takes eight people.
Point Lonsdale Lighthouse is the white tower on the headland at the western side of the Rip, the entrance to Port Phillip. It was first lit on 20 March 1902 and stands 21.3 m tall. You can walk around it any day, and volunteers from the Queenscliffe Maritime Museum run 30-minute tours to the lantern every Sunday from 9:30 am to 1 pm. Each tour takes eight people and bookings are essential. The lighthouse is about 29 km, or 30 minutes by car, from Geelong.
| Tour detail | Checked October 2026 |
|---|---|
| Run by | Queenscliffe Maritime Museum volunteers, by arrangement with Ports Victoria |
| Days | Every Sunday |
| Times | 9:30 am to 1 pm, last entry 12:30 pm |
| Length | About 30 minutes |
| Group size | Up to 8 people |
| Payment | Card only |
| Booking | Essential, through the museum’s website |
| Children | At least 5 years old and 90 cm tall |
| Not suitable for | People with heart pacemakers (telecoms equipment in the tower), claustrophobia or vertigo |
The tour climbs to the lantern. From the top, the museum says, you look across the Heads and along the coast to Ocean Grove and Cape Schanck.
We don’t list a price because the only figures we found came from a 2024 listing. The museum shows the current fare when you book. Lighthouse tour vouchers are also sold on its site.
There is a second chance to climb outside Sundays. For International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend, the Borough of Queenscliffe listed tours on 15 and 16 August 2026, with a visit to the Foghorn Shed. Watch the council’s events calendar for the 2027 dates.
The 1902 tower was an early reinforced concrete design by the Victorian Public Works Department, built by Coate Brothers, with a lantern made by Chance Brothers. The light sits 36.6 m above sea level and reaches about 22 km for the white light and 19 km for the red. It has run automatically since 1999 and is operated by the Victorian Ports Corporation.
Lights have marked this point for longer than the tower suggests:
That signal station is still staffed. It directs commercial ships into and out of Port Phillip Heads, and Wikipedia notes it may be the last staffed lighthouse in Australia. The tower is on the Victorian Heritage Register (H1517).
One tourism directory says the light stands “120 m above sea level”. Wikipedia gives a focal height of 36.6 m, or 120 feet, and that is the figure used here.
The Rip is the gap between Point Lonsdale and Point Nepean on the Mornington Peninsula, about 3 km wide between the headlands. Ocean and bay waters meet here, and Visit Geelong & the Bellarine calls it one of the world’s most dangerous stretches of water. The tourism board describes it as a kilometre-wide outlet, a narrower figure than the distance between the two points.
Commercial ships heading to and from Melbourne pass through the Rip, guided by the signal station. Watch from Rip View Lookout, signposted off Point Lonsdale Road on the way to the lighthouse; a walking track runs from it to the tower.
Swim only at the town beaches, and read the warnings for each one below.
Point Lonsdale is a small beach town around the lighthouse. Visit Geelong & the Bellarine lists these:
Buckley’s Cave comes with a local story. According to the aussietowns directory, a cliff walk from the base of the lighthouse leads to a cave linked to William Buckley, the convict who absconded soon after reaching Port Phillip in April 1803 and lived with the Wadawurrung people for about 32 years before he gave himself up in July 1835. Take care on the cliffs and check the tide.
The town takes its name from Captain William Lonsdale, Port Phillip’s first police magistrate, and was named in 1837.
| Way to go | Time | Details (Checked October 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Car from Geelong | About 30 min | About 29 km; the lighthouse is at the end of Point Lonsdale Road |
| Bus 56 (McHarry’s) | Check the timetable | Geelong to Queenscliff via Ocean Grove and Point Lonsdale; myki |
| From Queenscliff | A few minutes by car | About 6 km straight line; the Sorrento ferry leaves from Queenscliff |
| Day tour | 10 hours | From Melbourne, via the Geelong waterfront, with a Point Lonsdale stop |
Point Lonsdale sits between Ocean Grove and Queenscliff, so it fits into a loop of the southern Bellarine. A good Sunday plan: book the first lighthouse tour, walk to Rip View Lookout, then drive to Queenscliff for lunch and the 1:45 pm Fort Queenscliff tour. Our Bellarine Peninsula guide maps out the rest, and the tours page lists bookable trips.
10 hours
Starts with a walk past the Baywalk Bollards on the Geelong waterfront, then Point Lonsdale lighthouse, lunch in Queenscliff and the car ferry across the bay to Sorrento and the Mornington Peninsula.
fromA$199
Check availability3.5 hours
Snorkel at Popes Eye and with the young fur seals at Chinaman's Hat, then go looking for dolphins in Port Phillip Heads, with an optional bus transfer from Geelong Station.
fromA$210
Check availabilityPrices and ratings were taken from GetYourGuide and can change. Booking through these links supports this site at no extra cost to you.
Updated
Yes, on a guided tour. Volunteers from the Queenscliffe Maritime Museum take groups of up to eight to the lantern every Sunday from 9:30 am, with the last entry at 12:30 pm. Each tour lasts about 30 minutes, payment is by card only and you must book. On other days you can walk around the outside of the tower.
Children must be at least five years old and 90 cm tall to climb. The museum also says the tour doesn't suit people with heart pacemakers, because of the telecommunications equipment in the tower, or anyone with claustrophobia or vertigo. One older listing gives 95 cm as the height rule; the museum's own page says 90 cm.
The Rip is the entrance to Port Phillip, between Point Lonsdale and Point Nepean on the Mornington Peninsula, about 3 km apart, where ocean and bay waters meet. Visit Geelong & the Bellarine calls it one of the world's most dangerous stretches of water, which is why the lighthouse and a staffed signal station still guide ships through.
The current tower was finished in 1902 and first lit on 20 March that year. It was an early reinforced concrete design by the Victorian Public Works Department. Lights have marked the spot since the 1850s: a signal station from 1852 and a wooden lighthouse that stood here until it was pulled down for firewood in 1912.
Walk to Rip View Lookout near the lighthouse, swim at the sheltered Front Beach, look in the rock pools at Back Beach, or walk the 2.3 km promenade. Lon Retreat & Spa has mineral soaking tubs. Queenscliff, with its fort, maritime museum and the Sorrento ferry, is the next town east, a few minutes' drive away.
Queenscliff is a small Victorian-era town at the tip of the Bellarine Peninsula, about 31 km and 35 minutes from Geelong.
The Searoad car ferry crosses Port Phillip between Queenscliff and Sorrento in about 40 minutes.
Ocean Grove is a surf beach town on the Bellarine Peninsula, about 23 km and 25 minutes from Geelong.
The Bellarine Peninsula is the stretch of coast between Geelong and the entrance to Port Phillip, 22 to 34 km from the city.