The beam of light from Montague Lighthouse was so powerful that locals said they could read a newspaper on the break wall as it passed.
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It was a million candles worth of light.
Today the fully automated light provides merely the equivalent of 130,000 candles.
People who attended the Narooma Historical Society's lighthouse talks over the weekend heard many other nuggets about the lighthouse to mark International Lighthouse weekend.
The speakers included Robert Patzke and his wife Kotti Sallai, volunteers with National Parks and Wildlife Service on Montague Island for three years.
During that period they have learnt enough of the lighthouse's history to take people on tours of the 141-year old structure.
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Tapered and hollow structure
Mr Patzke said by the time Australian lighthouses were built, the English, Scottish and French had figured out the engineering and technology.
Montague Lighthouse is probably of Scottish design and is tapered so "that it falls into itself which gives it its strength," Mr Patzke said.
Being hollow also provides strength.
"They are like willows blowing in the wind.
"They give a little bit so they can dissipate the energy."
Inside there is a "lightweight" four-tonne Fresnel lens which can concentrate a parallel beam of light, similar to car headlights.
The motor that rotates the light so that it flashes out to sea was originally powered by vegetable oil, then kerosene and finally diesel.
In May 1969, it moved to electricity through solar power stored in battery packs.
Fortunate not to follow the English
Mr Patzke said in the 1800s thousands of lives were lost along the treacherous coast as materials like timber and gold were shipped between Melbourne and Sydney and up to Brisbane.
The current that runs from south to north is very close to the coast so "smaller sailing vessels would sit in this current to save time but they were at risk of hitting rocks", Mr Patzke said.
"There are rocks at Montague Island just below the surface."
Eventually a national conference of the principal officers of the Marine Department of the Australian Colonies decided that due to increased trade, a circle of lighthouses should be erected around Australia.
Mr Patzke said "we are lucky we had a bureaucracy that wanted to do this."
England was not so fortunate because in the early days some of the lighthouses were run privately.
"They were privateers and would turn off the light if they had not been paid their fee in advance.
"The English spent a lot of time trying to buy these privateers out to get a national system," Mr Patzke said.
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