![]() The Prom is approached along the South Gippsland Highway, turning off at either Meeniyan or Foster. Landscape Flora and fauna Climate Get in Camping is only allowed in the designated areas to reduce damage to the bush. The southern circuit is more popular with overnight hikers with several camping areas suited to wild camping. There are overnight hiking tracks with two key circuits, one in the north and one in the south. Many however choose to stay in accommodation just outside the Park in Yanakie, where they can still view the Wisons Promontory mountains and scenery and be only minutes from the Park's free entrance. Tourists may choose basic or glam, cabins or camping (powered/unpowered) if they wish to stay inside Wilsons Promontory National Park. Little is known of Wilson except that he was a merchant engaged in trade with Australia. Bass and Flinders recommended the name Wilsons Promontory to Governor Hunter, honouring Flinders's friend from London Thomas Wilson. But on returning to Port Jackson and consulting Matthew Flinders he was convinced that the location was so different it could not be that land. He initially referred to it as "Furneaux's Land" in his diary, believing it to be what Captain Furneaux had previously seen. The first European to see the promontory was George Bass in January 1798. The area remains highly significant to the Gunai/Kurnai and the Boon wurrung people, who consider the promontory to be their traditional country/land. It is considered the home of the spirit ancestor of the Brataualung clan - Loo-errn. The promontory is mentioned in dreamtime stories, including the Bollum-Baukan, Loo-errn and Port Albert Frog myths. Middens along the western coast indicate that the inhabitants subsisted on a seafood diet. Wilsons Promontory was first occupied by Indigenous Koori people at least 6,500 years prior to European arrival. ![]() The hub of the park is Tidal River where there is a store, visitor center and camping. The park has about 130 km of walking trails and a number of campsites. There is another, smaller marine national park in the northern area. The Prom is protected as the 50,000-hectare Wilsons Promontory National Park and the seas around the southern end are the Wilsons Promontory Marine National Park. Our decision to delay the walking till after we'd settled into our cabin was well-rewarded - a wallaby was waiting to greet us in the bush outside our new home.Wilsons Promontory or "the Prom" as it is known, is the southernmost point of the Australian mainland, located in the South Gippsland region of the state of Victoria. There are several places to park and admire the views or follow a walking track. ![]() The settlement at Tidal River is still 30 kilometres away and the drive gives a glimpse of the park - jagged cliff tops, waves smashing on rocks, wide white beaches. There are lots of places to stop and admire - from the fishing village of Tooradin to Leongatha, the commercial hub of south Gippsland, and Meeniyan, a picturesque town developing a reputation for its handicrafts.įrom here, it's almost an hour down the road to the entrance to Wilson's Promontory National Park but this is really just another beginning. The drive through Gippsland is lovely, gentle and green most of the time. It took us nearly four hours to get there by the time we'd stopped for lunch in Koonwarra, a small slice of gourmet heaven with cafes, wineries and a farmers' market on the first Saturday morning of each month. They blend into the landscape, with just the curved roofs peeking above the bushes, have solar power, plenty of natural light thanks to cleverly designed windows in both bedrooms (sleeping six) and a fabulous, if rather heavy, sliding glass wall that can disappear to make the living room an extension of the timber deck. Parks Victoria describes the new cabins as "environmentally sensitive". The army buildings at Tidal River became a post-war holiday village as more people came to the Prom, especially after the entrance road was sealed in the early 1970s. We stayed in Goodenia, one of the 17 cabins that were built almost a decade ago to replace a collection of old houses, relics from World War II when the Prom was used for commando training and was closed to the public. But it is worth the wait and occasionally you can be lucky, as we were, and get a cancellation. It's so popular that for the summer holidays you need to be in a ballot to secure a place and accommodation can be booked out months in advance all year. ![]() Along with 480 unpowered camping sites, there are - in descending order of comfort - cabins, units, group lodges and huts.
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