288 Barrett, IVilson's Promontory and ifs Wild Life. [^ 



Wilson^s Promontory (Vic.) and its Wild Life. 



By Charles Barrett, C.M.Z.S., Historical Branch, Defence 



Department, Melbourne. 

 When vSurgcon ficorge Bass, in his whale-boat, sailed into 

 Sealers' Cove on 24th January, 1798, his desire was to win food 

 from the land ; but, going ashore, he was charmed by a medley 

 of bird-songs — liquid notes of the Shrike-Thrush, carolling of 

 Magpies, and the slender strains of Fantails and Wrens, happy at 

 their day's employ. Bass was not on a sentimental journey ; 

 to replenish his larder he took toll of bird-life, but surely none of 

 the songsters was shot. In his diary the navigator paid a tribute' 

 to the sweetness of the bird music that greeted him on Wilson's. 

 Promontory ; and, for nature-lovers, his praise is the pleasantest 

 thing in the story of that immortal voyage through the strait that 

 bears his name. 



In July, igo8, the greater part of Wilson's Promontory 

 (approximately 101,000 acres) was permanently reserved as a 

 National Park — a sanctuary for native fauna and flora, which, 

 elsewhere in the State, is disappearing before the advance of 

 civilization. A more suitable area (excluding all country that is 

 fit for settlement) could not have been chosen. The Promontory, 

 connected with the mainland by an isthmus about 14 miles in 

 length and 4 miles in width, includes " samples" of several types 

 of country, and is capable of supporting many species of birds, 

 mammals, &c., in great numbers, while the indigenous flora com- 

 prises more than 600 species. The scenic beauty of the Park is 

 equal to that of any coastal or mountain district in Victoria, and 

 compares favourably with that of national parks in other States. 

 Commercially, the country is almost valueless. There are some 

 good grazing areas, and a few hundred head of cattle are generally 

 pastured in the Park ; but most of the land is unsuited for stock, 

 and the timber on the ranges is of little worth. 



At one time probably an island, geologists say, the Promontory 

 now forms portion of the ruins of an ancient land-bridge between 

 Australia and Tasmania. It is a wild, mountainous region, with 

 beautiful fern gullies, sylvan creeks, and little rivers, wide, curved 

 beaches, granitic headlands, high sand-dunes, and stretches of 

 open, " heathy " country, that are splendid with flowers in 

 springtime and summer. There are vast swamps, too, and dark 

 morasses which it is perilous to explore. 



The Park may be reached either by land or sea. Most visitors 

 travel by rail to Foster, 107 miles from Melbourne, on the South- 

 Eastern (Gippsland) railway, thence by road to the coast at 

 Shallow Inlet, where the beach journey begins — first through 

 clinging sand, then firmer going along the outer beach, past long 

 "blows" misty with wind-driven sand and rugged headlands 

 that are impassable at high tide. The " turn in " is where the 

 Darby River flows from between low cliffs to the sea. The road 

 is hedged with tea-tree {Lepfospermiiiii) to the entrance gate, beside 



