Wilsons Promontory

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Wilsons Promontory

Wilsons Promontory is a peninsula

Peninsula

A peninsula is a piece of Landform that is nearly surrounded by water but connected to mainland via an isthmus. Word origin: Latin paeninsula : paene, almost + insula, island....
that forms the southernmost part of the Australia

Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
n mainland and is located at .

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Wilson's Promontory Tidal River From Mt Oberon Dec 2004

Wilsons Promontory is a peninsula

Peninsula

Australia

South Point (Wilsons Promontory)

South Point is the southernmost point of the Australian mainland located on the northern side of Bass Strait. It is also the southernmost point of the mainland of the Wilsons Promontory-Peninsula....
at is the southernmost tip of Wilsons Promontory and hence of mainland Australia. Located at nearby South East Point

South East Point, Wilsons Promontory

South East Point lies on the southerly tip of Wilsons Promontory, Victoria , Australia. South East Point is located at . It commands sensational views of Bass Strait, Australia and is a major landmark for all ships travelling between the southern Australian ports and the Pacific Ocean....
, is the Wilsons Promontory Lighthouse

Wilsons Promontory Lighthouse

Wilsons Promontory Lighthouse is situated on South East Point, Wilsons Promontory,Victoria , Australia. From its pont on the peninsular, it commands almost 360? views of Bass Strait, Australia....
.

Human History

The first European to see the promontory was George Bass

George Bass

George Bass was a British naval surgeon and explorer of Australia....
in January 1798. He initially referred to it as "Furneaux's Land" in his diary, believing it to be what Captain Furneaux

Tobias Furneaux

File:Tobias_Furneaux.jpgCaptain Tobias Furneaux was an England navigator and Royal Navy officer, who accompanied James Cook on his second voyage of exploration....
had previously seen. But on returning to Port Jackson

Port Jackson

Port Jackson, containing Sydney Harbour, is the harbor of Sydney, Australia. It is known for its beauty, and in particular, as the location of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge....
and consulting with Matthew Flinders

Matthew Flinders

Captain Matthew Flinders, Royal Navy was one of the most successful navigators and cartography of his age. In a career that spanned just over twenty years, he sailed with Captain William Bligh, circumnavigated Australia and encouraged the use of that name for the continent....
he was convinced that the location was so different it could not be that land. Bass and Flinders recommended the name Wilson's Promontory to Governor Hunter

John Hunter (New South Wales)

Vice-Admiral John Hunter, Royal Navy was a Royal Navy officer and colonial administrator who succeeded Arthur Phillip as the second Governors of New South Wales, Australia from 1795 to 1800....
, honouring Flinders' friend from London

London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
Thomas Wilson. Little is known of Wilson except that he was a merchant engaged in trade with Australia.

The promontory has been a National Park, to one degree or another, since 1898. Wilsons Promontory National Park

Wilsons Promontory National Park

Wilsons Promontory National Park, commonly known as Wilsons Prom or The Prom, is a national park in the Gippsland region of Victoria , 157 km southeast of Melbourne, Australia....
, also known locally as "the Prom", contains the largest coastal wilderness area in Victoria. The site was closed to the public during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
, as it was used as a commando

Commando

In military science, the term commando denotes an individual soldier, a military unit, and a raid . Contemporarily, commando identifies ?lite light infantry and special forces units specialised in parachuting, rappelling, and amphibious warfare to conduct and effect attacks....
training ground. The only settlement within Wilsons Promontory is Tidal River

Tidal River, Wilsons Promontory

Tidal River is a river in Wilsons Promontory National Park, Wilsons Promontory, Victoria , Australia. It is also a permanent camping ground that takes its name from the river, which flows past the camping ground to the north, and provides it with all its fresh water....
which lies 30 km south of the park boundary and is the focus for tourism and recreation. This park is managed by Parks Victoria.

In 2005 a burn started by staff got out of control and burnt 13% of the park, causing the evacuation of campers.

A lightning strike on 8 February 2009 struck the Eastern side in the Cathedral Range near Sealers Cove, and has burned approx. 88Ha to this point. Since the fire is 11km ENE of Tidal River and there is a southerly wind, unless there is a change in direction, Tidal River will be unaffected. As a precautionary measure, Tidal River camping ground was evacuated and closed to the public until further notice.

Geography

Coastal features include expansive intertidal mudflats, sandy beaches and sheltered coves interrupted by prominent headlands and plunging granite cliffs in the south, backed by coastal dunes and swamps.

Rivers

Tidal River

Tidal River, Wilsons Promontory

Tea tree

Tea tree or Ti-tree is a popular name that has been applied to a number of different, unrelated plants:*Camellia sinensis , from which black, green, oolong and white tea are all obtained....
s in the area, which stain the water with tannin

Tannin

Tannins are astringent, bitter plant polyphenols that either bind and Precipitation or shrink proteins. The astringency from the tannins is what causes the dry and puckery feeling in the mouth following the consumption of red wine or an unripened fruit....
, giving it a tea-like appearance.

Wildlife

Wilsons Promontory is home to many marsupials, native birds and other creatures. One of the most common marsupials found in the prom is the wombat

Wombat

Wombats are Australian marsupials; they are short-legged, muscular quadrupeds, approximately in length with a very short tail. They are found in forested, mountainous, and heathland areas of south-eastern Australia and Tasmania....
, which can be found in much of the park (especially around camp-sites where it has been known to invade tents searching for food). The peninsula is also home to kangaroo

Kangaroo

A kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae . In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the Red Kangaroo, the Antilopine Kangaroo, and the Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Western Grey Kangaroo of the Macropus genus....
s, wallabies

Wallabies

Wallabies may refer to:* Wallaby, Australian animal* Wallaby , the manga by Kiyohiko Azuma* The Wallabies is the nickname of the Australia national rugby union team...
, koala

Koala

The Koala is a wikt:thickset arboreal marsupial herbivory native to Australia, and the only Extant taxon representative of the family Phascolarctidae....
s and emu

Emu

The Emu , Dromaius novaehollandiae, is the largest bird native to Australia and the only Extant taxon member of the genus Dromaius. It is also the second-largest extant bird in the world by height, after its ratite relative, the ostrich....
s. Some of the most common birds found on the promontory include crimson rosellas, yellow-tailed black cockatoos and superb fairy-wrens.