Montague Island is around 80 hectares in size and 8 kilometres offshore from the township of Narooma, with historic links to the town and to the boating industries operating along the NSW south coast. Its lighthouse has operated since it was first commisssioned in the late 1800s and the stories, photos and documents that record its working life, provide a fascinating insight to the life of isolation led by its keepers and their families.

Some of these, including a copy of its original visitors book, are on display at the replica lighthouse at Narooma's Visitor Information Centre. From here you can also arrange a trip to the Island. Charter boats can take you to view the Island and its surrounding waters, home to seals, dolphins and turtles. Humpback and other whales are also regularly seen.

The lighthouse was automated in 1987 and the Island is now administered by our National Parks and Wildlife Service. Tours can be arranged with its officers who will introduce you to the Island's native flora and fauna and take you on a tour of the lighthouse and residence whilst fascinating you with stories of their history of drama, compassion and romance and the many interesting visitors who enjoyed and recorded their sojourns to this close but isolated and significantly important settlement.

The island comprises two elevated sections divided by a ravine, covered with huge granite boulders and with a total area of 82 ha. The water around the island is rich in marine life due to the close proximity of the continental shelf and the warm eastern Australian current. It is in these waters that you can encounter pods of migrating whales, dolphins, sunfish manta rays, and pelagic fish.

Montague Island is one of the most important seabird nesting areas in NSW, especially for the likes of little penguins, wedge-tailed shearwaters, short-tailed shearwaters, sooty shearwaters, silver gulls and crested terns. It also contains the most important Australian fur seal haul-out sites along the NSW coast, being the most northern most colony of this marine mammal in eastern Australia.

The Island was originally a fertile hunting ground for the local Aboriginal people and contains a number of Aboriginal sites. With the appearance of white settlement, huge numbers of seals were commercially harvested during the early part of this century.

The island has a large colony of Little Penguins and many other seabirds use it as a breeding ground and migratory resting place. It provides a unique site for the many naturalists, botanists and other researchers who gather much data here in this diverse, isolated ecosystem.