Cape du Couedic is the south-western point of Kangaroo Island

Kangaroo Island

Kangaroo Island is Australia's third-largest island after Tasmania and Melville Island. It is southwest of Adelaide at the entrance of Gulf St Vincent. Its closest point to the mainland is off Cape Jervis, on the tip of the Fleurieu Peninsula in the state of South Australia. The island is long...

, off the coast of South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

. Cape du Couedic was named in 1803 by French explorer

Exploration

Exploration is the act of searching or traveling around a terrain for the purpose of discovery of resources or information. Exploration occurs in all non-sessile animal species, including humans...

 Nicolas Baudin

Nicolas Baudin

Nicolas-Thomas Baudin was a French explorer, cartographer, naturalist and hydrographer.Baudin was born a commoner in Saint-Martin-de-Ré on the Île de Ré. At the age of fifteen he joined the merchant navy, and at twenty joined the French East India Company...

 in honour of his friend and famous French sea captain

Captain (nautical)

A sea captain is a licensed mariner in ultimate command of the vessel. The captain is responsible for its safe and efficient operation, including cargo operations, navigation, crew management and ensuring that the vessel complies with local and international laws, as well as company and flag...

 Charles Louis, Chevalier du Couedic de Kergoualer (1740–1780).
The Cape du Couedic Lighthouse

Lighthouse

A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....

 is a prominent landmark. Constructed between 1906–1909, it consists of a tower built from 2,000 pieces of local stone, together with three four-roomed cottages to house the head keeper and two assistants with their families. The light characteristic shows two flashes every ten seconds, emitted at a focal plane height of 103 metres. A Fresnel lens

Fresnel lens

A Fresnel lens is a type of lens originally developed by French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel for lighthouses.The design allows the construction of lenses of large aperture and short focal length without the mass and volume of material that would be required by a lens of conventional design...

 made by Chance Brothers

Chance Brothers

Chance Brothers and Company was a glassworks originally based in Spon Lane, Smethwick, West Midlands , in England. It was a leading glass manufacturer and a pioneer of British glassmaking technology....

 is used there.

For many of its early years the site was inaccessible by land. Stores, materials and equipment brought by boat were hauled up to the lighthouse by a flying fox

Flying fox (cablecar)

A flying fox is a small cable car, often propelled by gravity, and used as an item of children's play equipment and more rarely for other purposes. The term flying fox is Australian English and New Zealand English. In other countries, it can be called a zip-line. Similar toys are known as death...

winching system originally powered by a pair of horses.

Today the lighthouse is automated and visitors to the area can stay in the old keepers' cottages.