The operation of the lighthouse was delayed by bad weather. It was first used on 31 May 1884. The installation of the telegraph line to Brisbane was delayed even longer and it was only installed on 8 August. The apparatus was a 4th order dioptric lens and it was displayed at above high-water mark, at the top of the structure. The light characteristic shown was occulting for two seconds every 12 seconds during flood tide and fixed during the ebb. It was also sectored, showing white light when the ships are in the direction for the deep water channel and red otherwise, and had an intensified sector using reflected light from the unused direction.