Cape Solander | |
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![]() A view of Cape Solander | |
Location | Sydney, New South Wales |
Nearest city | Kurnell |
Coordinates | 34°0′59″S151°13′54″E / 34.01639°S 151.23167°E |
Owner | NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service |
Website | https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/things-to-do/lookouts/cape-solander |
Cape Solander is a natural historic site, located near the small town of Kurnell, New South Wales, situated in the Kamay Botany Bay National Park. [1] The place is great for whale watching, with many whale species including the Humpback Whale, Southern Right Whale, and the Grey Whale. [1] Cape Solander is also pretty notorious for several people fatally falling off the cliffs. [2] [3]
Cape Solander is located on the Kurnell Peninsula, on the southern side of the Kamay Botany Bay National Park. The cape was named after Swedish botanist Daniel Solander who landed with Captain James Cook at Kurnell near the cape's location. [4] It marks the start of the Cape Baily Walking Track, that heads over to the Cape Baily Lighthouse. Around the cape, there are several other ladmarks like Tabbigai Gap, Blue Hole Gorge, and Yena Track. [5]
Cape Solander is home to the Gweagal and Goorawal Aboriginal People. [6]
The iconic white rocks that surround the cliffside of Cape Solander, that look like the rocks in Wedding Cake Rock, are Hawkesbury Sandstone, which is commonly occurring in the Sydney area. [7] [1] At the parking area, there is a $2.5M whale-watching platform for tourists to use when whales migrate in winter. [8] [9]
Cape Solander can be easily accessed from the Sydney CBD by driving west on Parramatta Road then heading South on King Georges Road. After, turn on Captain Cook Drive and enter Kamay Botany Bay Nat'l Park. [10]
In 2018, an American Mormon missionary slipped and fell to his death while posing for a selfie at the cliffs. [11] [2]
In June of 2024, two women died when they were swept off the rocks near Cape Solander while walking. A third, unidentified woman, managed to climb onto the rocks to safety. [3] [12]
Cape Solander is a popular place for whale-watching with 300,000 tourists coming from all around the world for this activity. [8] This place is also popular for bushwalking, with the nearby Muru and Yena trails close by, with also the Cape Baily Walking Track, which stretches down to Cape Baily Lightstation,Voodoo Point and Potter Point. [13] [1]
The Kamay Botany Bay National Park is a heritage-listed protected national park that is located in the eastern part of Botany Bay in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The 456-hectare (1,130-acre) national park is situated approximately 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) south-east of the Sydney central business district, on the northern and southern headlands of Botany Bay. The northern headland is at La Perouse and the southern headland is at Kurnell.
Hat Head is a national park on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, 461.7 kilometres (286.9 mi) north-east of Sydney. It lies within the Hastings-Macleay Important Bird Area. Within the park is the eponymous village of Hat Head, with about 320 inhabitants.
Daniel Carlsson Solander or Daniel Charles Solander was a Swedish naturalist and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus. Solander was the first university-educated scientist to set foot on Australian soil.
La Perouse is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The suburb of La Perouse is located about 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) southeast of the Sydney central business district, in the City of Randwick.
Cape Byron is the easternmost point of the mainland of Australia, located in New South Wales. It is about 3 km (1.9 mi) east of the town of Byron Bay, New South Wales and projects into the Pacific Ocean at 28.6335° S, 153.6383° E. A lighthouse is situated there. It is a popular area for hiking and for whale watching. Two national parks, one a conservation area and a marine park, are on the bay.
Sutherland Shire is a local government area in the southern region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Sutherland Shire is located south of the Sydney CBD, and comprises an area of 370 square kilometres (140 sq mi) and as at the 2016 census and has an estimated population of 218,464. The Sutherland Shire is colloquially known as "The Shire" which has been featured in several reality television series.
Botany Bay is an open oceanic embayment, located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 13 km (8 mi) south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and San Souci as well as the Cooks River at Kyeemagh, which flows 10 km (6 mi) to the east before meeting its mouth at the Tasman Sea, midpoint between the suburbs of La Perouse and Kurnell. The northern headland of the entrance to the bay from the Tasman Sea is Cape Banks, and, on the southern side, the outer headland is Cape Solander, and the inner headland is Sutherland Point.
Kurnell is a suburb in Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 21.4 kilometres (13.3 mi) south of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Sutherland Shire along the east coast. Cronulla and Woolooware are the only adjacent suburbs. La Perouse is located opposite, on the northern headland of Botany Bay. The Cronulla sand dunes are on the south eastern headland of Botany Bay. The eastern side of the peninsula is part of Botany Bay National Park, and Towra Point Nature Reserve is located on the western side of the suburb.
Little Bay is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Little Bay is located 14 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Randwick.
Tourism in Sydney forms an important part of the city's economy. The city received 12 million domestic visitors and 4.1 million international visitors in year ending June 2019. The most famous attractions include the Sydney Opera House, and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Other attractions include the Sydney Mardi Gras, Royal Botanical Gardens, Luna Park, the beaches and Sydney Tower.
The Gap is an ocean cliff at South Head in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, Australia. The area, which faces the Tasman Sea, is located in the suburb of Watsons Bay. Although the cliff is a popular tourist destination, it has infamy for suicides.
Herman Diedrich Spöring Jr. (1733–1771) was a Finnish explorer, draughtsman, botanist and a naturalist.
The Gweagal are a clan of the Dharawal people of Aboriginal Australians. Their descendants are traditional custodians of the southern areas of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Boat Harbour is a small beach located on the southern side of the Botany Bay National Park in Kurnell, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Whale watching is a popular pastime in Sydney in the winter and spring. There are a number of different migration and whale seasons.
Cape Baily Light is an active lighthouse located at Cape Baily, a headland at the south side of the entrance to Botany Bay, New South Wales, Australia. The light serves to help north-bound shipping hug the coast to avoid the strong southerly currents further out to sea.
Monotoca elliptica, the tree broom heath, is a plant in the family Ericaceae, found in south-eastern Australia.
The Bicentenary of James Cook in Australia was commemorated in Australia in 1970. The British explorer Lieutenant James Cook charted the east coast of Australia in 1770, and claimed the eastern seaboard of the continent for the British Crown. It was not considered the official bicentenary of Australia, but rather the bicentenary of the first mapping of the eastern coastline.
Whale watching in Australia is a popular recreational pursuit and a tourist activity along various coasts. In 2008, whale and dolphin watching was worth an estimated A$31 million in direct expenditure to the Australian economy with an estimated 1.6 million tourists participating in the activity. Humpback whales are the most common species seen in the waters surrounding Australia while southern right whales, minke whales and blue whales are also seen.
Silver Beach is a 2.8 km (1.7 mi) long west-trending sand spit in Kurnell, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia that is located 18 km (11 mi) south of the Sydney CBD. Situated on the northwestern reaches of the Kurnell Peninsula and linked with the sandstone of Sutherland Point in the east, the beach is characterised by silver-coloured sands, hence the name, and fourteen rockwall groynes which project into Botany Bay.
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