Cape Grenville (), is a small, east-facing

promontory A promontory is a raised mass of land that projects into a lowland or a body of water (in which case it is a peninsula). Most promontories either are formed from a hard ridge of rock that has resisted the erosive forces that have removed the so ...

along the

Queensland, Australia ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

coast of

Cape York Peninsula Cape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth’s last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación ...

. It lies between

Shelburne Bay The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park protects a large part of Australia's Great Barrier Reef from damaging activities. It is a vast multiple-use Marine Park which supports a wide range of uses, including commercial marine tourism, fishing, ports an ...

to the north and Temple Bay to the south. The nearest significant settlement is

Weipa Weipa () is a coastal mining town in the local government area of Weipa Town in Queensland. It is the largest town on the Cape York Peninsula. It exists because of the enormous bauxite deposits along the coast. The Port of Weipa is mainly invol ...

, along the western coast of Cape York. The northern part of this cape forms the southern face of Margaret Bay, to the west of Shelburne Bay. Several small islands (known as the Home Islands) lie off the eastern coast, including Orton Island, Gore Island and Hicks Island. Along the southern side of the cape is Indian Bay. About to the east and northeast of Cape Grenville is the far northern management area of the

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park protects a large part of Australia's Great Barrier Reef from damaging activities. It is a vast multiple-use Marine Park which supports a wide range of uses, including commercial marine tourism, fishing, ports an ...

. Persistent winds have blown sand on-shore and inland for up to at the cape. These parabolic dunes form Queensland's most extensive mainland transgressive dune system, slightly larger than those found at

Cape Flattery Cape Flattery () is the northwesternmost point of the contiguous United States. It is in Clallam County, Washington on the Olympic Peninsula, where the Strait of Juan de Fuca joins the Pacific Ocean. It is also part of the Makah Reservation, and ...

. The Wuthathi people are the traditional owners of the Cape Grenville region. They previously spoke the now extinct Wuthathi language. The Wuthathi Land Trust won control of "fifteen parcels of former

Aboriginal reserve An Aboriginal reserve, also called simply reserve, was a government-sanctioned settlement for Aboriginal Australians, created under various state and federal legislation. Along with missions and other institutions, they were used from the 19th c ...

land, and land declared claimable under the Act on the Cape Grenville Reserve Islands and the Cape Grenville Unallocated State Land Islands of Rodney Island, Manley Island, Pig Island,

Bootie Island Bootie Island is a small island in the Shire of Cook in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is part of the Cockburn Islands Group. Geography Bootie Island is northeast of Cape Grenville in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. It is around ...

, Sunday Island, Ethel Island and three un-named islands" which was granted under the ''

Aboriginal Land Act 1991 Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

'' (Qld). On 29 April 2015 a large block of land, and surrounding waters, including Cape Grenville, were recognised by the

Federal Court of Australia The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court of record which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law (with the exception of family law matters), along with some summary (less serious) and indic ...

as belonging to the Wuthathi people:

". . . recognised the exclusive and nonexclusive native title rights and interests of the Wuthathi People over approximately 1181 square kilometres of land described at as an ecologically sensitive and beautiful area around Shelburne Bay on the northern tip of Cape York Peninsula. Also, at 6as lying wholly within the wider area of Wuthathi country, which extends along the coast to Captain Billy Landing in the north, extending southwards to south of the Olive River, and east to the Great Barrier Reef."

7304 hectares of wetlands on Cape Grenville have been listed as "nationally important wetlands" in the ''Directory of Important Wetlands'' (2001) 3rd Edition, Environment Australia.

References

External links

Survey map of the Cape Grenville Sector
from AIMS Research
Map of Cape Grenville
from the Marine Modelling Unit at James Cook University.

tide calendar.
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, Zoning Plan 2003: MPZ2 - Cape Grenville
{{1stVoyageCookAus Grenville Landforms of Far North Queensland