Lady Elliot Island Light, Heritage lighthouse in Burnett Heads, Australia

Lady Elliot Island Light is a round, conical tower of a timber frame clad with galvanised wrought iron plates about 2.5 mm thick, painted white with a red lantern dome. It stands on the western side of Lady Elliot Island, the southernmost coral cay of the Great Barrier Reef. A modern square steel skeletal tower with a white fibre-glass hut stands close by and is the active light.

Lady Elliot Island Light was built in 1873 by John and Jacob Rooney of Maryborough for £749, the third lighthouse erected in Queensland since 1859. A temporary light on a mast had served the guano mining company from 1866. The light was upgraded to 23,000 cd in 1923 and 85,000 cd in 1928, electrified in 1953, automated in 1982 and demanned on 19 October 1988. Casuarina trees planted in 1969 obscured it, and it was deactivated in 1995.

The island's name honours Lady Elliot, wife of Governor Hugh Elliot, and the light has long been tied to the guano mining that began in 1863 and stripped the cay's vegetation. Goats imported for meat and milk ate what remained until lighthouse staff shot the herd in 1969, after which planting brought the trees back.

The original 1873 tower stands on the western side of Lady Elliot Island, a coral cay 46 nautical miles north-east of Bundaberg reached by light aircraft or boat. The active light now sits in a nearby square steel skeletal tower topped by a white fiberglass hut, so look for both structures. The old tower is largely in its original form, with a white iron-clad cone, a red lantern dome and a small skillion-roofed entrance porch.

The active light is a square steel skeletal tower topped by a white fibreglass hut, standing close to the 1873 lighthouse. It shows a white flash every 7.5 seconds, visible for 20 nautical miles, and carries a racon transmitting "B" at a focal height of 17 feet (5.2 m).