This lighthouse was established in 1876 a year after Cape D’Aguilar and Green Island lighthouses. Cape Collinson was delayed because the apparatus was mistakenly sent to the Cape of Good Hope.

This lighthouse was extensively renovated in 1966 and the old structure was integrated into the new structure and an upper floor was added to the original building. This lighthouse differs from the ‘tower-type lighthouses’ in that it is a two-storey building with the light apparatus on the roof. The bottom storey was built on the original granite plinth on a slightly sloping site.

The ground floor of Cape Collinson Lighthouse was originally used for accommodating the lighthouse keeper and his family and the late James Deacon, Superintendent of Lights, once told Dr Waters that a baby was born to a keeper’s wife at Cape Collinson and, when he grew up, he too became a lighthouse keeper.