Kangaroo Head

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Kangaroo Head
South Australia
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Kangaroo Head
Coordinates 35°43′6″S137°54′13″E / 35.71833°S 137.90361°E / -35.71833; 137.90361 Coordinates: 35°43′6″S137°54′13″E / 35.71833°S 137.90361°E / -35.71833; 137.90361
LGA(s) Kangaroo Island Council

Kangaroo Head is a headland in the Australian state of South Australia located at the north-west tip of Dudley Peninsula on Kangaroo Island. It was named by the British explorer, Matthew Flinders, on 23 March 1802.

Contents

Description

Kangaroo Head is the north-west tip of Dudley Peninsula on Kangaroo Island and overlooks Nepean Bay to the west, Investigator Strait to the north and Backstairs Passage to the east. It is the termination for a pair of coastlines - one extending from Cape Willoughby in the east via Backstairs Passage and the other extending from Strawbridge Point in the south via Nepean Bay. [1] It is described as ‘a bluff, rocky point marked by a conspicuous white cairn’ where the land behind ‘rises steeply to heights of 91 metres (299 feet) to 122 metres (400 feet)’. [2] Since 2002, it has been located within the gazetted locality of Kangaroo Head. [3]

Formation, geology & oceanography

Kangaroo Head 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. [4] The cliff line which includes Kangaroo Head consists of a grey metasandstone belonging to the Kanmantoo group bedrock known as the Tananappa Formation. [5] The water adjoining Kangaroo Head drops to a depth of 13 metres (43 feet) at the base of its cliff face. [6]

History

Aboriginal use

As of 1999, the literature had not cited any archaeological discoveries specific to Aboriginal use of land in the immediate vicinity of Kangaroo Head. [7]

European discovery

Kangaroo Head was discovered and named by Matthew Flinders on 23 March 1802. This place was where Flinders first sighted Mount Lofty, the tallest peak in the Mount Lofty Ranges. [8]

Economic activity

As of 2014, the land adjoining Kangaroo Head is used for farming. Farming activity at the locality had been underway prior to 1945 when most of the land had been reported as being cleared of native vegetation. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

Cape du Couedic is a headland in the Australian state of South Australia located on the southwest tip of Kangaroo Island in the locality of Flinders Chase. It was named after a French naval officer, Charles Louis du Couëdic de Kergoualer, by the Baudin expedition to Australia during January 1803. It is the site for the Cape du Couedic Lighthouse. It is currently located within the Flinders Chase National Park.

Investigator Strait Body of water in South Australia lying between the Yorke Peninsula, on the Australian mainland, and Kangaroo Island

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 bordered by the Gulf St Vincent in the northeast.

Cape Borda Place in South Australia

Cape Borda is a headland in the Australian state of South Australia located in the gazetted locality of Cape Borda on the north west tip of Kangaroo Island about 70 km (43 mi) west of the municipal seat of Kingscote. It was named after Jean-Charles de Borda (1733–1799), the French mathematician, physicist, naturalist and sailor, by the Baudin expedition to Australia during January 1803. It has been the site of an operating lighthouse since 1858 and is currently located within the Flinders Chase National Park.

Cape Spencer (South Australia) Place in South Australia

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Backstairs Passage

The Backstairs Passage is a strait in South Australia lying between Fleurieu Peninsula on the Australian mainland and Dudley Peninsula on the eastern end of Kangaroo Island. The western edge of the passage is a line from Cape Jervis on Fleurieu Peninsula to Kangaroo Head on Kangaroo Island. The Pages, a group of islets, lie in the eastern entrance to the strait. About 14 km wide at its narrowest, it was formed by the rising sea around 13,000 years ago, at the end of the Pleistocene era, when it submerged the land connecting what is now Kangaroo Island with the Fleurieu Peninsula. Backstairs Passage was named by Matthew Flinders whilst he and his crew on HMS Investigator were exploring and mapping the coastline of South Australia in 1802.

Pelican Lagoon

Pelican Lagoon is a seawater lagoon in the Australian state of South Australia located on the north coast of Kangaroo Island about 18.7 kilometres south east of Kingscote. It was named by Matthew Flinders on 4 April 1802 after the large population of pelicans present in its waters and adjoining shorelines. Its role as fishery hatchery had been identified by the early 20th century with the result that fishing in its waters has been restricted in varying degrees.

Cape Gantheaume is a headland located on the south coast of Kangaroo Island in South Australia. It was named after Vice admiral Honoré Joseph Antoine Ganteaume (1755–1818) by the Baudin expedition to Australia during 1803. It is currently located within the protected area known as the Cape Gantheaume Wilderness Protection Area.

Pelorus Islet

Pelorus Islet is an islet in the Australian state of South Australia located in Great Australian Bight off the south coast of Kangaroo Island approximately 7 kilometres east south-east of Cape Gantheaume. It was named by Captain Francis Harding, RN after HMS Pelorus.

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Nepean Bay Bay in Australia

Nepean Bay is a bay located on the north-east coast of Kangaroo Island in the Australian state of South Australia about 130 kilometres south-south-west of Adelaide. It was named by the British navigator, Matthew Flinders, after Sir Evan Nepean on 21 March 1802.

Point Marsden is a headland located on the north coast of Kangaroo Island in South Australia. It was named after William Marsden, Second Secretary to the Admiralty by Matthew Flinders in 1802. It is the western extremity of Nepean Bay and has been the site of a navigation aid since 1915.

Troubridge Point is a headland in the Australian state of South Australia located on the south coast of Yorke Peninsula about 11 kilometres south west of Edithburgh. It is the western end of the opening to Gulf St Vincent.

Rosetta Head Headland on the south coast of South Australia

Rosetta Head, known as Kongkengguwar by the Ramindjeri people but more commonly known as The Bluff, is a headland located on the south coast of Fleurieu Peninsula in Encounter Bay, South Australia, within the local government area of the City of Victor Harbor. It is a prominent landmark on the coast, about 77 kilometres south of the state capital of Adelaide, and currently used as a recreational reserve.

Chinamans Hat Island Island in South Australia

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Seal Island is an island located in Investigator Strait off the south coast of Yorke Peninsula in the Australian state of South Australia about 7 kilometres south south-west of Stenhouse Bay. Since 1972, it has been part of the Althorpe Islands Conservation Park.

Point Labatt Place in South Australia

Point Labatt is a headland located on the west coast of Eyre Peninsula in the Australian state of South Australia about 39 kilometres south by east of Streaky Bay. It is notable as one of the largest Australian mainland breeding sites for Australian sea lions. The land and the sea adjoining Point Labatt is part of three protected areas - the Point Labatt Conservation Park, the Point Labatt Aquatic Reserve and the West Coast Bays Marine Park.

Beatrice Islets are pair of islets in the Australian state of South Australia located in Nepean Bay on the north coast of Kangaroo Island about 4 kilometres east of Kingscote. The islets and adjoining intertidal areas are notable as habitat for bird life. The islet pair has enjoyed protected area status since 1909 and since at least 1972, have been part of the Beatrice Islet Conservation Park. During either the 1960s or the 1970s, the islets were extensively damaged by an exercise to remove an infestation of South African boxthorn.

Busby Islet is an islet in the Australian state of South Australia located in Nepean Bay on the north coast of Kangaroo Island about 2 kilometres north of the municipal seat of Kingscote. The islet and adjoining areas are notable as habitat for bird life. The islet has enjoyed protected area status since 1909 and since at least 1972, have been part of the Busby Islet Conservation Park.

Slade Point is a headland in the Australian state of South Australia located on the west coast of Eyre Peninsula in the locality of Sceale Bay about 29 kilometres (18 mi) south of the town of Streaky Bay. The point is the northern extremity of Searcy Bay and the southern extremity of a promontory that separates Searcy Bay in the south east from Sceale Bay in the north west. While it is within the coastline first charted by Matthew Flinders on 9 February 1802, it is not named by Flinders possibly due to the coastline being obscured by a thick haze. Slade Point was named in 1908 after “the late Mr. W. E. Slade” who served as the Assistant Engineer of Harbours in the South Australian Government. The cape has adjoined the boundary of the Cape Blanche Conservation Park since 2012 while the waters adjoining its shoreline have been within a habitat protection zone in the West Coast Bays Marine Park also since 2012.

Dudley Peninsula Place in South Australia

Dudley Peninsula is the peninsula forming the eastern end of Kangaroo Island in the Australian state of South Australia. It was occupied by Aboriginal Australians as recently as 3,100 years BP but was found to be unoccupied by the first European explorers to visit it in the early 19th century. It was first settled by Europeans as early as the 1830s. As of 2011, it had a population of 595 people.

References

  1. South Australia. Department of Marine and Harbors (1985), The Waters of South Australia a series of charts, sailing notes and coastal photographs, Dept. of Marine and Harbors, South Australia, pp. Chart 12, ISBN   978-0-7243-7603-2
  2. Sailing Directions (Enroute), Pub. 175: North, West, and South Coasts of Australia (PDF). Sailing Directions . United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. 2017. p. 215.
  3. "Search result for "Kangaroo Head (Locality Bounded)" (Record no SA0058060) with the following layers selected - "Suburbs and Localities" and "Place names (gazetteer)"". Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure. Archived from the original on 12 October 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  4. Robinson, A. C.; Armstrong, D. M. (eds.). A Biological Survey of Kangaroo Island, South Australia, 1989 & 1990 (PDF). Adelaide, SA: Heritage and Biodiversity Section, Department for Environment, Heritage and Aboriginal Affairs, South Australia. p. 26. ISBN   0 7308 5862 6 . Retrieved 1 May 2014.
  5. Fairclough, Martin C (December 2007). "KINGSCOTE Special 1:250 000 geological map" (PDF). MESA Journal. Government of South Australia, DMITRE. 47: 28–31. ISSN   1326-3544. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 May 2016. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  6. South Australia. Department of Marine and Harbors (1985), The Waters of South Australia a series of charts, sailing notes and coastal photographs, Dept. of Marine and Harbors, South Australia, pp. Chart 13, ISBN   978-0-7243-7603-2
  7. Robinson, A. C.; Armstrong, D. M. (eds.). A Biological Survey of Kangaroo Island, South Australia, 1989 & 1990 (PDF). Adelaide, SA: Heritage and Biodiversity Section, Department for Environment, Heritage and Aboriginal Affairs, South Australia. pp. 34–35. ISBN   0 7308 5862 6 . Retrieved 1 May 2014.
  8. Flinders, Matthew (1966) [1814]. A Voyage to Terra Australis : undertaken for the purpose of completing the discovery of that vast country, and prosecuted in the years 1801, 1802, and 1803 in His Majesty's ship the Investigator, and subsequently in the armed vessel Porpoise and Cumberland Schooner; with an account of the shipwreck of the Porpoise, arrival of the Cumberland at Mauritius, and imprisonment of the commander during six years and a half in that island (Facsimile ed.). Adelaide: Libraries Board of South Australia. pp. 251–252. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
  9. Robinson, A. C.; Armstrong, D. M. (eds.). A Biological Survey of Kangaroo Island, South Australia, 1989 & 1990 (PDF). Adelaide, SA: Heritage and Biodiversity Section, Department for Environment, Heritage and Aboriginal Affairs, South Australia. p. 52. ISBN   0 7308 5862 6 . Retrieved 1 May 2014.