South Neptune Island was the loneliest of South Australia’s lighthouses. Three keepers and their families led a hardy existence cut off from the outside world.

They lived in a single building of island granite, divided into three self-contained cottages. The environment was hostile. Salt spray and winds of up to 140 kilometres per hour often swept across the island. There was no natural water source, only water that could be caught on the roofs of the three cottages. Vegetation was sparse on the granite rock, and strict water rationing made the growing of fruit and vegetables impossible.

The island’s supply line, its jetty, was built on the ‘sheltered’ north-eastern side of the island. Every month, weather permitting, the lighthouse tender called with mail, fuel, fresh water and food supplies which were hauled up in large coal baskets. Often this was the island population’s only social interaction with the outside world.