Wingan Inlet is an

inlet An inlet is a (usually long and narrow) indentation of a shoreline, such as a small arm, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea. Overview In marine geogra ...

within the

Croajingolong National Park The Croajingolong National Park is a coastal national park located in the East Gippsland region of the Australian state of Victoria. The national park is situated approximately east of Melbourne and south of Sydney. The name ''Croajingolon ...

, in the

East Gippsland East Gippsland is the eastern region of Gippsland, Victoria, Australia covering 31,740 square kilometres (14%) of Victoria. It has a population of 80,114. Australian Bureau of Statistics2006 Census Community Profile Series: East Gippsland (Sta ...

region of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Features and location

The inlet covers a surface area of and is fed by the Wingan River and provides outflow to the

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea (Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abe ...

. It features a ranger-managed camping ground, about an hour's drive from the nearest town,

Cann River The Cann River is a perennial river located in the East Gippsland region of the Australian state of Victoria. Course and features The Cann River rises southwest of Granite Mountain in remote country on the eastern boundary of the Errinundra N ...

, along a rough stretch of dirt road. The inlet and its surrounds are home to many species of marine life, including crabs,

Sydney rock oyster ''Saccostrea glomerata'', is an oyster species belonging to the family Ostreidae.MolluscaBase eds. (2022). MolluscaBase. Saccostrea Dollfus & Dautzenberg, 1920. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/ ...

s and other shellfish, as well as birds and small mammals. Paralysis ticks,

Lace Monitor The lace monitor or tree goanna (''Varanus varius'') is a member of the monitor lizard family native to eastern Australia. A large lizard, it can reach in total length and in weight. The lace monitor is considered to be a least-concern species ...

s and snakes are common. The Wingan Point

headland A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, John ...

is located a few metres away from the inlet

mouth In animal anatomy, the mouth, also known as the oral cavity, or in Latin cavum oris, is the opening through which many animals take in food and issue vocal sounds. It is also the cavity lying at the upper end of the alimentary canal, bounded on ...

History

Aboriginal history

The traditional custodians of the land surrounding Wingan Inlet are the

Australian Aboriginal Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...

Bidawal and Nindi-Ngudjam Ngarigu Monero peoples.

European discovery

Wingan Inlet is of historical significance;

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

clearly recorded the existence of the Inlet on his chart - while naming the nearby southern headland, Ram Head on Thursday, April 19, 1780. George Bass took shelter from bad weather near the Inlet, on 20 January 1798 in a 28 feet (8.5 m) whaleboat he named Elizabeth - during his attempt to reach the wreck of the

Sydney Cove Sydney Cove (Eora: ) is a bay on the southern shore of Sydney Harbour, one of several harbours in Port Jackson, on the coast of Sydney, New South Wales. Sydney Cove is a focal point for community celebrations, due to its central Sydney locatio ...

; that ran aground on Preservation Island, in Bass Strait. Wingan Inlet is the only significant geographical feature in the area, that could be described as a lagoon that could provide shelter for a small open boat. Otherwise Bass referred to the sheltered bay and beach area in front of Wingan Inlet, that was named Fly Cove by Bass. Bass' party lost an anchor in the Cove, before continuing to navigate to Wilson's Promontory where they made an attempt to cross Bass Strait to reach the Sydney Cove. Due to bad weather and a leaking boat, Bass was forced to return to the mainland and continued west where he discovered and examined Western Port. On Bass' return voyage,Flinders, Matthew., Voyage to Terra Australia, Facsimile Edition No.37 Adelaide 1966. Vol.1, pp. cv1–cxx. they stopped at the lagoon near Cook's Ram Head to search, unsuccessfully for the whaleboat's anchor. Although Bass' expedition was unsuccessful in reaching the wreck of the Sydney Cove, due to weather and failing equipment. Upon his return to Sydney, Bass conveyed his observations of the tidal change along those parts of the coastline, and his belief of a strait separating The Mainland of Australia and Tasmania. Bass' speculations were confirmed in 1798–99, when he joined Mathew Flinders in the sloop Norfolk, when they circumnavigated Tasmania.

References

External links

* {{cite web , url=http://parkweb.vic.gov.au/explore/parks/croajingolong-national-park/things-to-do/wingan-inlet , title=Wingan Inlet , work=

Parks Victoria Parks Victoria is a government agency of the state of Victoria, Australia. Parks Victoria was established in December 1996 as a statutory authority, reporting to the Victorian Minister for Environment and Climate Change. The ''Parks Victoria Ac ...

, publisher=

Government of Victoria The Victoria State Government, also referred to as just the Victorian Government, is the state-level authority for Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Like all state governments, it is formed by three independent branches: the executive ...