Cape Woolamai is a town and headland at the south eastern tip of

Phillip Island Phillip Island ( Boonwurrung: ''Corriong'', ''Worne'' or ''Millowl'') is an Australian island about south-southeast of Melbourne, Victoria. The island is named after Governor Arthur Phillip, the first Governor of New South Wales, by explore ...

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. It is home to Cape Woolamai State Faunal Reserve and the

Phillip Island Airport Phillip Island Airport is a small private airport on Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia. See also * List of airports in Victoria, Australia This is a list of airports in the Australian state of Victoria. __TOC__ List of airports The lis ...

. Cape Woolamai contains a subdivision also called Cape Woolamai (formerly known as Woolamai Waters and Woolamai Waters West).

History

The cape was named by

George Bass George Bass (; 30 January 1771 – after 5 February 1803) was a British naval surgeon and explorer of Australia. Early years Bass was born on 30 January 1771 at Aswarby, a hamlet near Sleaford, Lincolnshire, the son of a tenant farmer, Georg ...

(but spelt "Wollamai") when he kicked it on his whaleboat voyage in early 1798. ''Wollamai'' is the snapper fish (''

Pagrus auratus The Australasian snapper (''Chrysophrys auratus'') or silver seabream is a species of porgie found in coastal waters of Australia, Philippines, Indonesia, mainland China, Taiwan, Japan and New Zealand. Its distribution areas in the Northern an ...

'') in the language of the Eora Aboriginal people of

Port Jackson Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman ...

, where the fish is found. Bass, who had learnt some of the Sydney language from the Eora leader

Bennelong Woollarawarre Bennelong ( 1764 – 3 January 1813), also spelt Baneelon, was a senior man of the Eora, an Aboriginal Australian people of the Port Jackson area, at the time of the first British settlement in Australia in 1788. Bennelong ser ...

, thought the headland resembled the head of that fish. In 1826, during the establishment of Fort Dumaresq, near Rhyll,

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as stratum, rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen ...

was reported to have been found in the vicinity of the Cape. The area was purchased from the government in 1868 by John Cleeland, sea captain, publican and owner of the

Melbourne Cup The Melbourne Cup is a Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and over, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria as part of the Me ...

winner of 1875. He then built Wollomai House and ran

merino sheep The Merino is a breed or group of breeds of domestic sheep, characterised by very fine soft wool. It was established in Spain near the end of the Middle Ages, and was for several centuries kept as a strict Spanish monopoly; exports of the bree ...

from

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. In 1910 his son, John Blake Cleeland, noticed the sand was shifting due to erosion, so he planted rows of

Marram grass ''Ammophila'' (synonymous with ''Psamma'' P. Beauv.) is a genus of flowering plants consisting of two or three very similar species of grasses. The common names for these grasses include marram grass, bent grass, and beachgrass. These grasses ar ...

, still evident today. In 1959, of farmland was sold and subdivided into housing estates for beach shacks and holiday makers. It was then named Woolamai Waters and Woolamai Waters West, and later renamed Cape Woolamai. Cape Woolamai had a Post Office from 1970 to roughly 1974 which was open only during summer. A Woolamai Post Office was open from 1911 until 1974. The roads were sealed in the late 1980s and beach shacks gradually turned into more substantial houses. Today Cape Woolamai has a world-renowned surf beach, Woolamai Beach Surf Life Saving Club, and a popular Safety Beach.

Environment

The headland contains remnant vegetation and wildlife such as an important breeding colony of the

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 ...

, also called the Australian muttonbird. Volunteer groups such as the Cape Woolamai Coast Action Group conduct regular improvement and maintenance works including weed control and revegetation. It lies within the

Phillip Island Important Bird Area The Phillip Island Important Bird Area comprises a 20 km2 strip of coastline along the south and west coasts of Phillip Island, Victoria, in south-eastern Australia. Description The site contains much of the Phillip Island Nature Park, i ...

, identified as such by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

because of its importance in supporting significant populations of

little penguin The little penguin (''Eudyptula minor'') is a species of penguin from New Zealand. They are commonly known as little blue penguins or blue penguins owing to their slate-blue plumage and are also known by their Māori name . The Australian l ...

s, short-tailed shearwaters and

Pacific gull The Pacific gull (''Larus pacificus'') is a very large gull, native to the coasts of Australia. It is moderately common between Carnarvon in the west, and Sydney in the east, although it has become scarce in some parts of the south-east, as a ...

Gallery

Image:Cape_Woolamai_1.jpg, View from the cape looking toward San Remo/Kilcunda coast Image:Cape_Woolamai_2.jpg, View from the cape looking south Image:Cape_Woolamai_3.jpg, Image:Cape_Woolmai_4.jpg, Image:Cape_Woolamai_5.jpg, Image:Cape_woolamai_6.jpg, Image:Cape_woolamai_7.jpg, Image:Capewoolamaisurf.JPG, The surf club at Cape Woolamai Image:Capewoolamaishelter.JPG, The gazebo on The Esplanade Image:Capewoolbeach.JPG, A nice, sunny day at Cape Woolamai Surf Beach

References

External links

Bass Coast Shire WebsiteDownloadable map of Cape WoolamaiOfficial Profile at Phillip Island Nature ParksProfile at VisitPhillipIsland.com
{{authority control Phillip Island Woolamai Important Bird Areas of Victoria (Australia) Towns in Victoria (Australia) Towns in South Gippsland Bass Coast Shire