Cape Schanck, or ''Tunnahan'' (

Boonwurrung The Boonwurrung, also spelt Bunurong or Bun wurrung, are an Aboriginal people of the Kulin nation, who are the traditional owners of the land from the Werribee River to Wilsons Promontory in the Australian state of Victoria. Their territory ...

) is a locality at the southernmost tip of the

Mornington Peninsula The Mornington Peninsula is a peninsula located in the south of Greater Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is surrounded by Port Phillip to the west, Western Port to the east and Bass Strait to the south, and is connected to ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, approximately south of Melbourne's

Central Business District A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

, located within the

Shire of Mornington Peninsula The Mornington Peninsula Shire is a local government area in southeastern Metropolitan Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is located to the south of the Melbourne City Centre. It has an area of 724 square kilometres and in June 2018 it had a ...

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

. Cape Schanck recorded a population of 569 at the 2021 census. Cape Schanck separates the wild ocean waters of

Bass Strait Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The ...

from the slightly calmer waters of

Western Port Western Port, ( Boonwurrung: ''Warn Marin'') commonly but unofficially known as Western Port Bay, is a large tidal bay in southern Victoria, Australia, opening into Bass Strait. It is the second largest bay in the state. Geographically, it ...

. The most recognisable symbol of Cape Schanck is the Cape Schanck Lighthouse. The lighthouse was built in 1859 and was the second lighthouse built in Victoria. A prominent rock outcrop is Pulpit Rock and stands out at the very tip of the cape. Cape Schanck is also home to the RACV Resort Cape Schanck on Boneo Road which includes an eighteen-hole golf course and The National Golf Club on Cups Drive. British-Australian artist Georgiana McCrae produced many of her paintings at Cape Schanck. A keen artist–traveller in the Romantic tradition,

Nicholas Chevalier Nicholas Chevalier (9 May 1828 – 15 March 1902) was a Russian-born artist who worked in Australia and New Zealand. Early life Chevalier was born in St Petersburg, Russia, the son of Louis Chevalier, who came from Vaud, Switzerland, and was ov ...

concentrated on effects of atmosphere, mood and dramatic lighting in his depictions of the iconic natural wonders he found at Cape Schanck.

History

The traditional

name for the cape is ''Tunnahan''. The location was given its European name in 1800 after Captain John Schank, R.N. (note spelling with only one 'c') by Lieutenant James Grant sailing on the '' Lady Nelson''. Schank had designed the raised keel (or centreboard) on the ''Lady Nelson''. The spelling of the locality as 'Schanck' (two c's) is a misspelling of Schank.

Nicolas Baudin Nicolas Thomas Baudin (; 17 February 175416 September 1803) was a French explorer, cartographer, naturalist and hydrographer, most notable for his explorations in Australia and the southern Pacific. He carried a few corms of Gros Michel banana ...

called it Cap Richelieu when he sailed past on the Géographe on 30 March 1802. , cited in Bird (2006) Cape Schanck Post Office opened around March 1879 and closed in 1962. In 1893 a steamship, the SS ''Alert'', sank off the coast at Cape Schanck during a storm. It was rediscovered after 113 years on the ocean floor in June 2007.

Flora and fauna

Albatrosses ( black-browed, Chatham, yellow-nosed, etc.) are occasionally spotted off the cliffs as are

short-tailed shearwater The short-tailed shearwater or slender-billed shearwater (''Ardenna tenuirostris''; formerly ''Puffinus tenuirostris''), also called yolla or moonbird, and commonly known as the muttonbird in Australia, is the most abundant seabird species in A ...

s (particularly during their spring migration), black-faced and

pied cormorant The Australian pied cormorant (''Phalacrocorax varius''), also known as the pied cormorant, pied shag, or great pied cormorant, is a medium-sized member of the cormorant family. It is found around the coasts of Australasia. In New Zealand, it i ...

kelp gull The kelp gull (''Larus dominicanus''), also known as the Dominican gull, is a gull that breeds on coasts and islands through much of the Southern Hemisphere. The nominate ''L. d. dominicanus'' is the subspecies found around South America, pa ...

s and

Australasian gannet The Australasian gannet (''Morus serrator''), also known as the Australian gannet or tākapu, is a large seabird of the booby and gannet family, Sulidae. Adults are mostly white, with black flight feathers at the wingtips and lining the trailing ...

s. The shrubs decorating the area are frequently home to

brown thornbill The brown thornbill (''Acanthiza pusilla'') is a passerine bird usually found in eastern and south-eastern Australia, including Tasmania. It can grow up to long, and feeds on insects. It is brown, grey and white. The species has five subspeci ...

s, singing honeyeaters and a number of other passerines. The elusive striated fieldwren has also been known to inhabit the area. Some flora include cushion bushes.

References and notes

External links

*Website fo
Cape Schanck Lighthouse
{{Shire of Mornington Peninsula suburbs Mornington Peninsula Western Port Coastal towns in Victoria (state) Schanck

History

Flora and fauna

See also

References and notes

External links