[4] The first contact between the European explorers and the Aboriginal people of the far southern region of NSW occurred in 1798 when Matthew Flinders visited Twofold Bay, south of Eden.

[4] "Twofold Bay afforded the potential for raising stock on unoccupied Crown Land in the vicinity of a commodious harbour"[5] and it quickly became a commercial and trading centre during the mid-nineteenth century.

[4] The developing industries around Twofold Bay soon revealed the potential of the region and began attracting competition for the Imlay brothers.

[4] Although whaling had not been a sustainable industry in the region, the Green Cape area was a notable point in the shipping trade along the NSW coastline.

Since shipping had accelerated following the gold rush of the 1850s, the entire NSW coastline, in fact, had been regarded as dangerous and increasingly treacherous.

Hixson was ultimately successful in achieving his vision – by the early twentieth century, the "highway of lights" was complete with 25 coastal lighthouses and 12 in Sydney Harbour.

[4] The need for a lighthouse was approved in 1873 at the conference of the Principal Officers of Marine Departments of the Australian Colonies on a motion from Hixson, following a series of wrecks on the southern shore.

The nearest safe anchorage was in Bittangabee Bay, north along the coast from Green Cape, where he built his storeroom and jetty.

Prior to 1880, some small houses were built using concrete but no public buildings, and certainly none as substantial as the Green Cape, had been constructed using the material.

Ultimately, the Green Cape Lightstation was completed by his creditors and was fully operational, with a kerosene-powered light visible for 35 km, by 1883.

On a clear, calm night en route from Melbourne to Sydney, the paddle-steamer ran full-speed into rocks at the base of the lighthouse and quickly broke apart.

Fifteen men (ten crew and five passengers) survived the shipwreck but only 24 bodies were ever recovered and buried in unmarked graves in a small cemetery a short distance from the lightstation.

[10][4] In 1910 the light source was replaced with a Douglas vaporised kerosene burner and a glass chimney around a silk mantle, made by Chance Bros.

In 2009, Green Cape Lightstation was designated an Engineering Heritage National Landmark[12] – the first lighthouse to be accorded this level of recognition in Australia.

[4] The lightstation is a tightly knit complex of buildings that comprises the original lighthouse; the 1994 light tower; the Head Keepers Quarters; duplex quarters for the two Assistant Keepers; stables; telegraph station; ancillary buildings; communication tower; solar panels; and remnant foundations of various structures.

An octagonal concrete tower on a square base, the lighthouse is built of locally quarried rock aggregate and was finished with a Chance Bros lantern house.

The small cemetery is bound by a simple metal wire fence and contains 23 graves, each marked by a pair of white head and foot stones.

[4] Located further afield, some 7 km north of the lightstation at Bittangabee Bay, there are remnants of the original port and jetty that was built prior to the construction of the lighthouse.

[4] Despite more recent alterations and modifications to kitchen and bathroom facilities to ensure the ongoing use of the site, the original detail and layout of the main buildings in the lightstation remains clearly evident today.

Green Cape Maritime Precinct was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 1 February 2013 with the following statement of significance:[4] The Green Cape Maritime Precinct is of state heritage significance as a notable lightstation in the "highway of lights" that were erected along the NSW coastline during the late nineteenth century.

Recommended by Captain Francis Hixson (President of the Marine Board of NSW) and designed by the colonial architect, James Barnet, Green Cape Lightstation was an ambitious and unique development for its period.

Considered to be one of NSW's worst maritime disasters, the loss of 71 lives that night was one of the greatest shipwreck tragedies in the state's history.

Fifteen people survived the wreck and 24 bodies were recovered and buried in unmarked graves in a small cemetery a short distance from the lightstation.