“The outside of the lighthouse was painted a couple of years ago,” National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) officer, Craig Dickmann explained.

“But we needed to get the inside done. 

"The paint was just falling off the walls,” he said.

Delso Painting from Wyndham was contracted to do the historic job, and engaged a small army of seven painters. 

Although Delso owner, Chris O’Sullivan, has made a name for himself undertaking big paint jobs such as the Tura Beach Woolworths, the lighthouse proved his most challenging job yet.

“It’s a harsh environment out there, and the lighthouse doesn’t have much ventilation, so there was mould and rust everywhere,” Mr O'Sullivan said.

The team had to brave ever-changing weather conditions themselves for the three weeks it took to do the work. 

“A couple of days we had 90 kilometres per hour wind, and the boys had to hook the work trailer to the car to stop it blowing away," Mr O’Sullivan said. 

"Other days it was totally calm,” he said.

Alan Roadknight, a semi-retired NPWS field officer and the lighthouse keeper on site during the repaint, was impressed by the resilience and creativity of the painting team. 

“It’s been 20 years since the inside was painted,” Mr Roadknight said.

“The lighthouse has four landings, 116 steps, and a tapered inner shape, so it’s a very challenging space to work in.

"The painters couldn’t use scaffolding, so Chris had to come up with some innovative new tools to reach all the hard spots.

The most fiddly job proved to be the underside of the steel landings and spiral staircase.

Mr Roadknight said he was sure all the lightkeepers, both living and departed, would be happy to see the premises in its current state.

And it certainly sounds like those ‘departed’ keepers tried to express their thanks to the painters, with a bit of normal paranormal activity. 

“We all slept in cottage three during the week, and a couple of the boys were a bit spooked,” Mr O’Sullivan laughed. 

“I’m used to it. Years ago when we were doing another job here, one of the apprentices got visited by a lady ghost. 

"The first night, she hung near the doorway. 

"The second night, she reached down to him, and he was paralysed with fear. 

"There’s definitely something going on,” he said.

There are three cottages at Green Cape light station, originally the residences for the keeper and assistants, and now rented out to visitors. 

Cottage three is the most infamous for hauntings, supposedly connected to the Ly-ee-Moon shipwreck. 

“The ship sunk off rocks near the point on May 30, 1886,” lighthouse keeper, Mr Roadknight, verified.

“Seventy-one people drowned, and the dining room of cottage three was used as a makeshift morgue. 

"Many visitors, even those who have no idea of the history, have seen ghosts. 

"There were two totally independent sightings of a woman in a long dress holding the hand of a child. One tourist refused to go into the dining room, saying she “saw lots of bodies”. 

"And one of our permanent lighthouse keepers was woken up one night by a male ghost in a dripping overcoat, who left a trail of wet footprints.” 

In a kind of exorcism, the painting boys ended their three weeks on Green Cape by also re-painting cottage three. 

The historic space now feels like a fresh canvas, renewed and refreshed, inviting a brand new era of storms, high seas, passing whales and dark nights, with the lighthouse’s warning flashes a perpetual guardian angel.

Technology overtakes the lamp 

The need for a lighthouse on Green Cape promontory was approved in 1873 after a series of shipwrecks, with the building completed a decade later.

It was the largest concrete-mass project undertaken in the colony of NSW at the time, and at 29 metres high the original tower remains the second tallest lighthouse in NSW. 

The original fresnel lamp - still located in the tower - was first lit on November 1, 1883. 

This four-wick kerosene lamp flashed every 50 seconds, and could be seen 19 nautical miles (35 kms) offshore. 

In 1992 a solar powered lens in a modern steel structure was placed right next to the historic tower, with the original light officially turned off on March 17, 1992. 

National Parks and Wildlife Service took over ownership in 1997, and continue managing it to this day.

The light station is now a big tourist attraction, with the cottages sometimes booked years in advance for those wanting to get ringside seats for the annual whale migration.