Cape Leeuwin

The historic Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse is located at Australia's most south-westerly point, on the tip of a magnificent peninsula where the Southern and Indian Oceans meet. As the tallest lighthouse on Australian soil.

When Leeuwin (The Lioness) rounded the cape in March 1622, Matthew Flinders named it Cape Leeuwin at the start of his circumnavigation of Terra Australis (Australia) on December 7, 1801. He took the name of the adjoining area, which had been called Leeuwin's Land by Dutch navigators when Leeuwin (The Lioness) rounded the cape in March 1622.

Mathew Flinders Biography :

Born in 16 March 1774 Donington, Lincolnshire, England

Died in 19 July 1814 (aged 40) London, England

Mathew Flinders was a British navigator and cartographer who led the first inshorecircumnavigation of mainland Australia, then called New Holland.

Some facts about the Lighthouse:

• Originally, the light tower, which is made of local stone, was intended to show two lights: a higher white light and a lower red light.

• The lower light was never installed, despite the fact that the foundations were completed.

• The white light (electric) that has been installed now has a brightness of one million candlepower and a range of about 25 miles.

• In 1955, a radio navigation beacon was installed and operated until 1992.

• In August 1992, the tower was automated.

Other Explorers:

For the next two centuries, other European ships passed by, including the Dutch 't Gulden Zeepaert, commanded by François Thijssen in 1627, and the French Gros Ventre, commanded by Louis Aleno de St Aloüarn in 1772.

Bruni d'Entrecasteaux made the first known European sighting of the cape in 1791. In honour of Captain de St Aloüarn, d'Entrecasteaux thought the cape was an island and named it "Isle St Allouarn" ("St Allouarn Island"). In 1801, Matthew Flinders began his survey of New Holland's south coast from Cape Leeuwin, which he named ten years later. Flinders landed in the bay east of Cape Leeuwin, which is now known as Flinders Bay.

Louis Aleno de St Aloüarn & Yves de Kerguelen

Born: 28 July 1738 Born: 13 February 1734, Landudal, France

Died: 27 October 1772 Died: 3 March 1797, Paris, France

French Explorer French voyager

• In 1771, shortly after the death of his wife, St Aloüarn was approached by a colleague, Yves de Kerguelen, who asked him join an expedition to New Holland.

• Kerguelen and St Aloüarn first travelled to Port Louis, Isle de France (now Mauritius).On 30 April 1771, they left Port Louis in two small vessels: Kerguelen on board the 24-gun fluyt Fortune and St Aloüarn commanding the 16-gun storeship Gros Ventre

• On 11 February 1772, in the southern Indian Ocean, the expedition sighted a large mountainous island that Kerguelen took for Australia.[6] (The island was later named after him.)

• The two ships lost sight of each other during bad weather.

• After a party from Fortune had made a brief visit to the island, Kerguelen returned to France]After also landing a party on the island, St Aloüarn continued towards Australia and a rendezvous point at Cape Leeuwin, arranged earlier with Kerguelen. On 17 March he arrived off a bay (later Flinders Bay), near the cape.