Originally it was powered by a kerosene concentric wick lamp and still today it features a second order bivalve Fresnel lens[4] prism floating on a mercury bath.

The light flashes once in 15 seconds, and is visible to 27 nautical miles (50 km), the focal plane is located at 46 metres (151 ft) AHD.

[5] Norah Head has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: Near the head, sea battles between the Japanese Navy and Merchant navy ships took place in World War II: Three ships were sunk, Nimbin, at 1,052 tonnes (1,035 long tons; 1,160 short tons), by a mine on 5 December 1940 and the fishing trawler Millimumul sank with the loss of seven men on 26 March 1941 when it trawled up a German mine laid by the mine ship Pinguin, as well as BHP Shipping's Iron Chieftain, at 4,812 tonnes (4,736 long tons; 5,304 short tons) by a submarine on 3 June 1942.

Immediately in front of the head there is a rock platform which was formed in the Permian to Triassic periods around 180 - 280 million years ago.

The intrusion was created by waves quarrying a softer basalt lava flow out of the surrounding granite.