Cape Woolamai, Victoria

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Cape Woolamai (38°34′S 145°21′E^[1]) is a small town and headland at the south eastern tip of Phillip Island in Victoria, Australia. It is home to Cape Woolamai State Faunal Reserve, and the Phillip Island Airfield. Cape Woolamai also contains a subdivision called Woolamai Waters.

The cape was named by George Bass (but spelt "Wollamai") when he passed it on his whaleboat voyage in early 1798.^[2] Wollamai is the snapper fish (Chrysophrys auratus) in the language of the Eora aboriginal people of Port Jackson, where the fish is found.^[3] Bass, who had learnt some of the Sydney language from the Eora leader Bennelong,^[4]) thought the headland resembled the head of that fish.

[edit] References

1. ^ Cape Woolamai page at Geoscience Australia
2. ^ A Voyage to Terra Australis by Matthew Flinders, volume 1, available freely at Project Gutenberg, his entry for 3 May 1802
3. ^ Australian Aboriginal words in English, R. M. W. Dixon, Oxford University Press, 1990, ISBN 0-19-553099-3
4. ^ Miriam Estensen, The Life of George Bass, Allen and Unwin, 2005, ISBN 1-74114-130-3