April 2008

19th April

Moonlight Head, western Otway Ranges

I went for a day walk with friends to and along Wreck Beach, which is west of Moonlight Head. This area of coast was a notorious place for ship wrecks during the early years of migration to Victoria. In the late 18oo's and early 1900's shail ships bringing settlers from England would take the 'Great Circle Route'. This involved first sailing to South Africa, then heading south–west in a great arc to near-Antartic waters before heading north-west to eventually reach the bass Strait and land-fall at Victoria on the Otway Coast. In those days navigators were able to determine their latitude (north-south position) relatively accurately, but longitude was measured approximately by plotting daily direction and ship speed. Ships reached the coast at places that were initially unknown, and often did so at night. The seas west of Cape Otway are wild and dotted with rocky reefs. Hundreds of ships were sunk, taking passengers and crew to their deaths. Moonlight Head was a key navigation feature because it juts into the ocean and on moonlit nights the west face is distinctive.

	View north east toward Moonlight head		Anchor of the 'Fiji' (wrecked 1891)
	View east from above the western end of Wreck Beach		Grass-trees (Xanthorrhoea australis) reprouting after fire.