In the early days the only access to the
lighthouse was by sea and there were many times of tragedy as the small
cemetery demonstrates. The first keeper died after injuring his eye walking through the bush and no outside medical assistance was available. Eight children of keepers died including one who fell off the
cliff and one who simply went missing. Another keeper also died and two keeper’s wives, one of whom in childbirth. The master and nine crew of the vessel Fides drowned when the ship went down near
Cape Borda in 1860 and second keeper Charles Johnson was commended for returning the four survivors to
Adelaide in a small boat in a “tempestuous season”.