The Twelve Apostles are a collection of

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

stacks off the shore of

Port Campbell National Park The Port Campbell National Park is a national park in the south-western district of Victoria, Australia. The national park is situated approximately south-west of Melbourne and approximately east of Warrnambool. The park is located adjacen ...

, by the Great Ocean Road in Victoria,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Their proximity to one another has made the site a popular

tourist attraction A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural beaut ...

. Despite their name, it is possible that there were never 12 rock stacks. Seven of the original nine stacks remain standing. Six of them are visible from the most popular viewpoint, while the seventh is located several metres away from the corner of the main viewing platform.

Formation and history

The limestone unit that forms The Twelve Apostles is referred to as the Port Campbell Limestone, which was deposited in the Mid-Late

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

, around 15 to 5 million years ago. The Twelve Apostles were formed by

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...

. The harsh and

extreme weather Extreme weather includes unexpected, unusual, severe weather, severe, or unseasonal weather; weather at the extremes of the historical distribution—the range that has been seen in the past. Extreme events are based on a location's recorded weat ...

conditions from the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the world ocean, generally taken to be south of 60th parallel south, 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is the seco ...

gradually erode the soft limestone to form caves in the cliffs, which then become arches that eventually collapse, leaving rock stacks up to high. The stacks are susceptible to further erosion from

waves United States Naval Reserve (Women's Reserve), better known as the WAVES (for Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), was the women's branch of the United States Naval Reserve during World War II. It was established on July 21, 1942, ...

. In July 2005, a stack collapsed, leaving eight standing. Another collapsed in 2009, leaving seven remaining stacks. Due to wave action eroding the cliffs, existing headlands are expected to become new limestone stacks in the future. The stacks were originally known as the Pinnacles, and the Sow and Pigs (or Sow and Piglets, with Muttonbird Island being the Sow and the smaller rock stacks being the Piglets), as well as the Twelve Apostles. The formation's name was made official as the Twelve Apostles, after the Apostles of Jesus, to attract more tourists, despite only ever having had nine stacks. In 2002, the Port Campbell Professional Fishermen's Association attempted to block the creation of the Twelve Apostles Marine National Park at the Twelve Apostles site. The association approved of a later decision by the Victorian government to prohibit

seismic exploration Reflection seismology (or seismic reflection) is a method of exploration geophysics that uses the principles of seismology to estimate the properties of the Earth's subsurface from reflection (physics), reflected seismic waves. The method requir ...

at the site by Benaris Energy, believing such exploration would harm marine life. In March 2023, the

Federal Court of Australia The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law (with the exception of family law matters), along with some summary (less serious) and indictable (mo ...

ruled in favour (under the Native Title Act of 1993) of formally recognising the Eastern Maar people as

traditional owners Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title rig ...

' of 8,578 km² of land located in south-west Victoria, including the Twelve Apostles.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Twelve Apostles, The Stacks of Australia Landmarks in Australia Rock formations of Victoria (state) Tourist attractions in Victoria (state) Cliffs of Australia Great Ocean Road

Formation and history

See also

References

External links