The 27 paintings appeared in the book Ships That Shaped Australia, the work of former Deakin University lecturer Jack L. Koskie.

Koskie's works capture the high drama of early shipping in Australia, including American whale boats; the first ship to traverse Bass Strait from West to East, the HMS Lady Nelson; and the Loch Ard, which was wrecked in 1878 trying to sight the Cape Otway lighthouse.

Included in the collection of acrylic onboard works is HMS Investigator, which surveyed Australian waters under the command of Matthew Flinders; SS Casino, which was wrecked at Apollo Bay in 1932; and HMAS Sydney, famous for her stoush with the German vessel Emden in 1914.

Maritime Museum of Victoria chairman Henry Hudson said the paintings were a significant contribution to preserving the country's maritime history and heritage.

"He (Koskie) showed meticulous care and attention to detail. He thought it was essential that his paintings reflected the correctness of the ships and the sea, and the set of the sails had to be correct," Dr Hudson said.

Lightstation manager Paul Thompson said Cape Otway had real links with some of the vessels portrayed in the exhibition.

These include the SS Casino ? a steamship which traded between Melbourne and Port Fairy ? and the Marco Polo, captained by the infamous James 'Bully' Forbes, who passed Cape Otway on numerous occasions carrying up to 700 passengers in a race against time during the gold rush era.

"We're thrilled to have the exhibition, which has only been exhibited twice before, at the lightstation," Mr Thompson said.

"It gives locals and tourists further insight into our amazing maritime history, which the lightstation is very keen to promote and preserve.

"We're an island nation surrounded by sea, many of our forebears arrived by ship and for at least the first 150 years of European settlement ships were our lifeline to the rest of the world. Our maritime heritage is a huge part of our history."