Cape Wiles is a headland located on the west side of the southern tip of
Eyre Peninsula
The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north.
Originally called Eyre’s Peninsula, it was named af ...
in
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
about south west of the city of
Port Lincoln
Port Lincoln is a town on the Lower Eyre Peninsula in the Australian state of South Australia. It is situated on the shore of Boston Bay, which opens eastward into Spencer Gulf. It is the largest city in the West Coast region, and is located ...
. The cape is described by one source as being the south east extremity of “a broad promontory” of which
Cape Carnot
Cape Carnot (french: Cap Carnot) is a headland in the Australian state of South Australia located on the west side of the southern tip of Eyre Peninsula about south west of the city of Port Lincoln. The Eyre Peninsula has a double tip; the oth ...
is the south west extremity at a distance of to the west. The cape also is the western extremity of
Sleaford Bay.
Name
Cape Wiles was named by
Matthew Flinders
Captain (Royal Navy), Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a British navigator and cartographer who led the first littoral zone, inshore circumnavigate, circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then called New Holland ...
on 19 February 1802 after James Wiles, a botanist whom he described as “a worthy friend at
Liguanea
Liguanea ( ) is an area of the island of Jamaica. Its name came from the language of the Yamaye people who currently inhabit some of the island's rural areas in Cornwall County. and named it after the iguana lizard that is endemic to the island, ...
, in
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispan ...
”, along with the nearby
Liguanea Island
Liguanea Island is an uninhabited granite island in the Australian state of South Australia located 3.7 km south of Cape Carnot at the southern, central point of Eyre Peninsula. It is approximately 2.7 km long, 180 ha in size its elevat ...
. Wiles had been a friend of
Joseph Banks then became First Gardener on the
Second Breadfruit Voyage (1791–1793) under
William Bligh
Vice-Admiral William Bligh (9 September 1754 – 7 December 1817) was an officer of the Royal Navy and a colonial administrator. The mutiny on the HMS ''Bounty'' occurred in 1789 when the ship was under his command; after being set adrift i ...
and Flinders had been a midshipman on the same voyage. He left the ship in Jamaica and became gardener at a public nursery, then Island Botanist. He later owned two coffee plantations. Wiles was a beneficiary of slavery from the
British West Indies
The British West Indies (BWI) were colonized British territories in the West Indies: Anguilla, the Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Gre ...
.
The slaves on his plantations had been valued at £4,160.
Uses
The cape is the site of a
high frequency radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...
station which is used to collect data about wind direction and wave height. Since 2012, the waters adjoining its shoreline are within a habitat protection zone in the Thorny Passage Marine Park.
References
External links
Cape Wiles - video by Cy Starkman
r
Eyre Peninsula
Great Australian Bight
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