South of the city lies Port Kembla, a major steelmaking, minerals, grain and vehicle handling harbour.

Designed by Edward Orpen Moriarty MA MInstCE, the Engineer-in-Chief of Harbours and Rivers Department, the tower is constructed of wrought iron on a ferro-concrete base to survive any gale force weather in the area.

The old lighthouse has become an icon of Wollongong for its part played in its history and is often depicted on its tourist brochures and even appears as an emblem on the pocket of a local high school uniform.

[5] Though the Wollongong Breakwater Lighthouse is decommissioned now, it was restored to being fully functional and its lights are relit to mark special maritime occasions nowadays.

[2] The Wollongong Breakwater Lighthouse was listed as a local government heritage building on 7 January 2000, and was noted of being of local significance for being 'Australia's first prefabricated steel lighthouse, and illustrative of early achievements in prefabrication and in the application of the new technology to the new building tasks of that era.