Point Marsden (also called Marsden Point) is a headland located on the north coast of

Kangaroo Island Kangaroo Island, also known as Karta Pintingga (literally 'Island of the Dead' in the language of the Kaurna people), is Australia's third-largest island, after Tasmania and Melville Island. It lies in the state of South Australia, southwest ...

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 ...

. It was named after William Marsden,

Second Secretary to the Admiralty The Permanent Secretary of the Admiralty was the permanent secretary at the British Admiralty, Admiralty, the department of state in Great Britain responsible for the administration of the Royal Navy. He was head of the Admiralty Secretariat, late ...

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 ...

in 1802. It is the western extremity of

Nepean Bay Nepean Bay is a bay located on the north-east coast of Kangaroo Island in the Australian state of South Australia about south-south-west of Adelaide. It was named by the British navigator, Matthew Flinders, after Sir Evan Nepean on 21 March 1 ...

and has been the site of a

navigation aid Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...

since 1915.

Description

Point Marsden is the most easterly point of the Kangaroo Island coast that directly adjoins

Investigator Strait Investigator Strait is a body of water in South Australia lying between the Yorke Peninsula, on the Australian mainland, and Kangaroo Island. It was named by Matthew Flinders after his ship, HMS ''Investigator'', on his voyage of 1801–1802. ...

. It is the termination for a pair of coastlines - one extending from Cape Borda in the west and the other extending from Cape Rouge from the south in Nepean Bay. It is described as being ‘a rocky headland of moderate height’ and that ‘High wooded land rises about W of it.’ It is the western extremity of the opening to Nepean Bay.

Formation, geology and oceanography

Point Marsden was formed when the sea reached its present level 7,500 years ago after sea levels started to rise at the start of the

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togethe ...

. The cliff line which includes Point Marsden consists of a metamorphic rock belonging to the Kangaroo Island Group bedrock called Boxing Bay Formation. The water adjoining Point Marsden drops to a depth of at the outer edge of the

wave-cut platform A wave-cut platform, shore platform, coastal bench, or wave-cut cliff is the narrow flat area often found at the base of a sea cliff or along the shoreline of a lake, bay, or sea that was created by erosion. Wave-cut platforms are often most obv ...

at the base of its cliff face.

History

Aboriginal use

By 1999, the literature had not cited any archaeological discoveries specific to Aboriginal use of land in the immediate vicinity of Point Marsden.

European discovery

Point Marsden was discovered by Matthew Flinders on 21 March 1802 and named after William Marsden,

Navigation aid

consisting of a tower with a single flashing light was installed in 1915. The light which is above sea level, assists vessels underway at night in Investigator Strait. The need for a navigation aid at Point Marsden was suggested as early as 1882 and was one of four sites recommended for immediate construction of navigation aids in 1912 when the responsibility for navigation transferred from the South Australian government to the Australian government.

Economic activity

As of 2014, the land adjoining Point Marsden is used for farming. Farming activity at the locality is reported as being underway as early as 1908 with most of the land being cleared of native vegetation by 1945.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Point Marsden Headlands of Kangaroo Island Investigator Strait