Moonlight Head is a locality located on the
Great Ocean Road in southwest of Victoria on the
Southern Ocean. It is believed to be the headland seen by
Matthew Flinders
Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a British navigator and cartographer who led the first inshore circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then called New Holland. He is also credited as being the first person to u ...
from the ''
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'' during a break in showery weather, on the night of 20 April 1802.
It is notable for the vertical cliffs up to 50 metres high, which in some places overhang, and expose geological structures such as
cross bedding, scour and fill channels and variable sizes of concretions. There is also a sea cave and a massive active landslip, which extends inland for 500 metres. As a consequence amethyst stones, which give the place its name, can be found on the pebbly beach.
This stretch of the coast is renowned for its
shipwrecks, with the ship, ''Fiji'' wrecked just off the head in 1891 and the ''Marie Gabrielle'' wrecked on 25 November 1869.
An Aboriginal shell midden was excavated in a rock shelter at Moonlight Head and was found to have been occupied between 1030 BP and 180 BP when excavated by archaeologist
David Frankel. This was probably one of the places occupied by the
Ngarowurd gundidj clan identified by
George Augustus Robinson’s Gadubanud informants. The find extended the known period of Aboriginal presence on this part of the Otway coast.
Lawrence Niewójt Gadubanud society in the Otway Ranges, Victoria: an environmental history
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References
External links
Official Website for 12 Apostles Region of Victoria
Towns in Victoria (state)
Coastal towns in Victoria (state)
Headlands of Victoria (state)
Great Ocean Road
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