Cape Woolamai is a small town and headland at the south eastern tip of Phillip Island in Victoria, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. It is home to Cape Woolamai State Faunal Reserve, and the Phillip Island Airfield. 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

George Bass was a British naval surgeon and explorer of Australia.-Early years:He was born on 30 January 1771 at Aswarby, a hamlet near Sleaford, Lincolnshire, the son of a tenant farmer, George Bass, and a local beauty named Sarah Nee Newman. His father died in 1777 when Bass was 6...

 (but spelt "Wollamai") when he passed it on his whaleboat voyage in early 1798. Wollamai is the snapper fish (Pagrus auratus) in the language of the Eora

Eora

The Eora are the Aboriginal people of the Sydney area, south to the Georges River, north to the Hawkesbury River, and west to Parramatta. The indigenous people used this word to describe where they came from to the British. "Eora" was then used by the British to refer to those Aboriginal people...

 aboriginal people of Port Jackson

Port Jackson

Port Jackson, containing Sydney Harbour, is the natural harbour of Sydney, Australia. It is known for its beauty, and in particular, as the location of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge...

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

Bennelong

Woollarawarre Bennelong was a senior man of the Eora, an Aboriginal people of the Port Jackson area, at the time of the first British settlement in Australia, in 1788...

,) thought the headland resembled the head of that fish.

The area was purchased from the government in 1868 by John Cleeland, sea captain, publican and owner of the Melbourne Cup

Melbourne Cup

The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major Thoroughbred horse race. Marketed as "the race that stops a nation", it is a 3,200 metre race for three-year-olds and over. It is the richest "two-mile" handicap in the world, and one of the richest turf races...

 winner of 1875, 'Wollomai'. He then built Wollomai House, and ran merino sheep from New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

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

Marram grass

Ammophila is a genus consisting of two or three very similar species of grasses; common names for these grasses include Marram Grass, Bent Grass, and Beachgrass...

, still evident today.

In 1959, 230 acre (0.9307778 km²) 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 (probably) 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

Short-tailed Shearwater

The Short-tailed Shearwater or Slender-billed Shearwater , also called Yolla or Moonbird, and commonly known as the muttonbird in Australia, is the most abundant seabird species in Australian waters, and is one of the few Australian native birds in which the chicks are commercially harvested...

 or Australian Muttonbird

Muttonbird

Muttonbird, mutton-bird or mutton bird refer to seabirds – particularly certain large shearwaters – whose young are collected for food and other uses before they fledge ....

. 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

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:...

, so identified by BirdLife International

BirdLife International

BirdLife International is a global Partnership of conservation organisations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources...

 because of its importance in supporting significant populations of Little Penguin

Little Penguin

The Little Penguin is the smallest species of penguin. The penguin, which usually grows to an average of in height and in length , is found on the coastlines of southern Australia and New Zealand, with possible records from Chile.Apart from Little Penguins, they have several common names...

s, Short-tailed Shearwaters and Pacific Gull

Pacific Gull

The Pacific Gull 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 result of competition from the Kelp Gull, which has "self-introduced" since...

s.

External links

• Bass Coast Shire Website
• Downloadable map of Cape Woolamai
• Official Profile at Phillip Island Nature Parks
• Profile at Domain.com
• Profile at VisitPhillipIsland.com

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