The Twelve Apostles is a collection of limestone stacks off the shore of the Port Campbell National Park, by the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia. Their proximity to one another has made the site a popular tourist attraction.The apostles were formed by erosion: the harsh and extreme weather conditions from the Southern Ocean gradually eroded the soft limestone to form caves in the cliffs, which then became arches, which in turn collapsed; leaving rock stacks up to 45 metres high.The site was known as the Sow and Piglets until 1922 ;after which it was renamed to The Apostles for tourism purposes. The formation eventually became known as the Twelve Apostles, despite only ever having nine stacks.In 2002, the Port Campbell Professional Fishermens Association unsuccessfully attempted to block the creation of a proposed marine national park at the Twelve Apostles location,but were satisfied with the later Victorian Government decision not to allow seismic exploration at the same site by Benaris Energy; believing it would harm marine life.The stacks are susceptible to further erosion from the waves. On 3 July 2005, a 50 metre tall stack collapsed, leaving eight remaining. On 25 September 2009, it was thought that another of the stacks had fallen, but this was actually one of the smaller stacks of the Three Sisters formation.The rate of erosion at the base of the limestone pillars is approximately 2 cm per year.Due to wave action eroding the cliff face existing headlands are expected to become new limestone stacks in the future.

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Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock and officially gazetted as Uluru / Ayers Rock,is a large sandstone rock formation in the southern part of the Northern Territory in central Australia. It lies 335 km south west of the nearest large town, Alice Springs, 450 km by road.Kata Tjuta and Uluru are the two major features of the Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park. Uluru is sacred to the Anangu, the Aboriginal people of the area. The area around the formation is home to a plethora of springs, waterholes, rock caves, and ancient paintings. Uluru is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.Uluru is one of Australia's most recognisable natural landmarks. The sandstone formation stands 348 m high, rising 863 m above sea level, with most of its bulk lying underground, and has a total circumference of 9.4 km.Both Uluru and the nearby Kata Tjuta formation have great cultural significance for the Aṉangu people, the traditional inhabitants of the area, who lead walking tours to inform visitors about the local flora and fauna, bush foods and the Aboriginal dreamtime stories of the area.Uluru is notable for appearing to change colour at different times of the day and year, most notably glowing red at dawn and sunset.Kata Tjuta, also called Mount Olga or The Olgas, lies 25 km west of Uluru. Special viewing areas with road access and parking have been constructed to give tourists the best views of both sites at dawn and dusk.

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Sydney is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia. It is on Australia's south-east coast, on the Tasman Sea. In June 2010 the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people.Inhabitants of Sydney are called Sydneysiders, comprising a cosmopolitan and international population.The site of the first British colony in Australia, Sydney was established in 1788 at Sydney Cove by Captain Arthur Phillip, of the First Fleet, as a penal colony.The city is built on hills surrounding Port Jackson, which is commonly known as Sydney Harbour, where the iconic Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge are prominent structures. The hinterland of the metropolitan area is surrounded by national parks, and the coastal regions feature many bays, rivers, inlets and beaches, including the famous Bondi and Manly beaches. Within the city are many parklands, including Hyde Park and the Royal Botanic Gardens.Sydney is a consistently high-ranking world city for quality of life. It has hosted multiple major international sporting events, including the 1938 British Empire Games, the 2000 Summer Olympics and the final of the 2003 Rugby World Cup. The main airport serving Sydney is Sydney Airport and its main port is Port Botany.Radio carbon dating suggests that the Sydney region has been inhabited by indigenous Australians for at least 30,000 years.The historic indigenous inhabitants of Sydney Cove are the Cadigal people, whose land once stretched from south of Port Jackson to Petersham.While estimates of the population before the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 remain contentious, an estimated 4,000–8,000 Aboriginal people lived in the Sydney region before contact with British settlers. The British called the indigenous people the "Eora" when asked where they came from these people would answer: Eora, meaning "here", or "from this place" in their language.The three language groups in the Sydney region were divided into dialects, spoken by smaller clans. The principal languages were Darug, Dharawal and Guringai. Each clan had a territory, and the location of each territory determined the resources available. Although urbanisation has destroyed much earlier evidence of these settlements, such as shell middens, a number of Sydney rock engravings, carvings and rock art remain visible in the Hawkesbury sandstone of the Sydney basin.In 1770, Lieutenant James Cook landed at Botany Bay on the Kurnell Peninsula.Here Cook made first contact with an Aboriginal community known as the Gweagal.Under instruction from the British government, Arthur Phillip founded a convict settlement in the area, arriving at Botany Bay with a fleet of 11 ships on 18 January 1788. Closer examination determined the site to be unsuitable for habitation, owing to poor soil and a lack of reliable fresh water. Phillip subsequently founded the colony one inlet further north along the coast, at Sydney Cove on Port Jackson on 26 January 1788. The official proclamation of the founding and naming of Sydney took place nearly two weeks later on 7 February 1788. The original name was intended to be Albion, but Phillip named the settlement after the British Home Secretary, Thomas Townshend, Lord Sydney, in recognition of Lord Sydney's role in issuing the charter authorising Phillip to establish the colony.

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Wollongong is a seaside city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. Wollongong lies on the narrow coastal strip between the Illawarra Escarpment and the Pacific Ocean, 82 kilometres south of Sydney. Wollongong's Statistical District has a population of 292,190,making Wollongong the third largest city in New South Wales after Sydney and Newcastle, and the tenth largest city in Australia.The Wollongong metropolitan area extends from Helensburgh in the north to Windang in the south. It sits within the Wollongong Statistical District, which covers the local authority areas of Wollongong, Shellharbour and Kiama, extending from the town of Helensburgh in the north to Gerroa in the south Geologically, the city is located in the south-eastern part of the Sydney basin, which extends from Newcastle to Nowra.Wollongong is noted for its heavy industry, its port activity and the quality of its physical setting, occupying a narrow coastal plain between an almost continuous chain of surf beaches and the cliffline of the rainforest-covered Illawarra escarpment. It has two cathedrals, churches of many denominations and the Nan Tien Temple, the largest Buddhist temple in the southern hemisphere.Wollongong has a long history of coalmining and industry. The city attracts many tourists each year,and is a regional centre for the South Coast fishing industry. The University of Wollongong has around 22,000 students and is internationally recognised.Although other explanations have been offered, such as "great feast of fish", "hard ground near water", "song of the sea", "sound of the waves", "many snakes" and "five islands", the name Wollongong is believed to mean "seas of the South" in the local Aboriginal language, referring to NSW's Southern Coast.The city of Wollongong has a distinct geography. It lies on a narrow coastal plain flanked by the Tasman Sea to the east and a steep sandstone precipice known as the Illawarra Escarpment to the west. The coastal plain is widest in the south and narrowest in the north, with the city centre located about midway. South of the city centre but within the urban area is Lake Illawarra, a large lagoon.The escarpment ranges between 150 and 750 metres above sea level, with locally famous mountains such as Mount Keira, Mount Kembla, Broker's Nose and Mount Murray to the south. It contains strata of coal measures, and the adit entrances to many coal mines have been established along the slopes of the escarpment throughout Wollongong. Suburbia encroaches on the escarpment’s lower slopes in some areas, but the majority remains in a relatively natural state forested with dry sclerophyll and pockets of temperate rainforest. The escarpment is largely protected by a State Conservation Area and local scenic protection zoning, and provides the visual backdrop to the city.In the north the escarpment meets the coastline, and north of this the coastal road Lawrence Hargrave Drive hugs the cliffline. The unstable geology of the escarpment resulted in rockfalls, forcing the closure of the road. Subsequently part of Lawrence Hargrave Drive was replaced in 2005 by the Sea Cliff Bridge just off the coast, crossing the submerged rock shelf. The bridge carries both vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The South Coast railway line must go through several tunnels to reach the Sydney metropolitan area. The Southern Freeway and Princes Highway, Australia provide alternative inland routes, descending the escarpment further south at Bulli Pass or at Mount Ousley, entering just north of Wollongong's city centre.To the south the plain reaches its maximum extent around Albion Park where it incorporates a large coastal saltwater lagoon called Lake Illawarra, separated from the Pacific Ocean by a long sandy spit.The main road connecting Wollongong is the Waterfall-Yallah Southern Freeway. The freeway, part of National Route 1, descends the escarpment via Mount Ousley Road to enter the city near the University of Wollongong and exits at its southern fringe. A second freeway, Memorial Drive, continues northward from the university to connect Wollongong's northern suburbs, Bulli Pass and the scenic Lawrence Hargrave Drive. The Illawarra Highway connects Wollongong's southern suburbs to the Southern Highlands via Macquarie Pass.

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Tamborine Mountain is a 28 square kilometres plateau in the Scenic Rim, Gold Coast Hinterland, south-east Queensland, Australia. The name is of Aboriginal origin and has nothing to do with the musical instrument.Tamborine Mountain was inhabited by Aborigines for tens of thousands of years and, at the time of early European settlement, lay in the territory of the Wangerriburras. The origin of the name Tamborine comes from the Anglicised version of the Aboriginal word 'Jambreen' from the Yugambeh language.The spelling also appears on early records as Tchambreem and even Goombireen,which means 'wild lime' and refers to the finger lime trees growing on the mountain.Until it was opened for selection in 1878 it was covered with a diverse range of forest types.In that year the first white settler, John O'Callaghan selected a parcel of land on the mountain.Much clearing for agriculture took place, though efforts were made to protect the natural values of the area, with Witches Falls National Park being declared in 1908, the first in Queensland.The Tamborine National Park is made up of 12 separate sections of land, mainly remnant rainforest, on the plateau and surrounding foothills. A tourist road to the mountain was opened in 1924.

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Mullaloo is a northern coastal suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located within the City of Joondalup.Mullaloo is named after an Aboriginal word, believed to mean "place of the rat kangaroo". It was first recorded in 1919 as Moolalloo Point, but the spelling was later changed to Mullaloo. Urban development began in the late 1950s.The Mullaloo Surf Life Saving club patrols around 4.5 km of beach between Pinnaroo Point and Whitfords Point, between September and April.The club has row teams, swim teams, board teams and sprint teams.

Mullaloo has two schools, Mullaloo Beach Primary School and Mullaloo Heights Primary School.Enrolment currently stands at 272 at Mullaloo Heights.

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Yarwondutta Rock is an isolated granite inselberg standing abruptly from the surrounding cleared plains. The rock is cut by several vertical or near-vertical fractures, three trending north-east to south-west, two trending west-north-west to east-south-east and one aligned north-west to south-east, so that the outcrop is subdivided into several roughly quadrangular blocks. Preferential weathering has taken place along the major fractures giving rise to clefts or slots. One of the major clefts is bounded by flared slopes like those formed around the margins of the inselberg and on some of the upper slopes. Clear evidence of the subsurface origin of the flares can be seen in the reservoir.The upper flattish slope is poked and grooved due to the development of many rock basins, linked by bedrock channels. Most are of the flat-floored pan variety but those near the edges of The Summit plain take the form of the armchair-shaped hollows.The large residual boulder standing on the north-western step displays an active tafone or hollow. The entire north-western slope is stepped, which flared slopes linking flattish platforms. Good exposures of the fresh hiltaba granite can be seen in the quarry. There is also a good exposure of a regolith in granite and with calcrete superimposed on the weathered bedrock.12ha, 4km north of Minnipa on Minnipa Yardea Road, comprising area enclosed by a series of straight lines joining AMG points: 5932-3-Minnipa 147691, 147688, 151688, 151692 and commencement point. 

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Tasmania is an island state, part of the Commonwealth of Australia, located 240 kilometres to the south of the Australian continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania, the 26th largest island in the world, and the surrounding 334 islands.The state has a population of 507,626, of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart precinct. Tasmania's area is 68,401 square kilometres, of which the main island covers 62,409 square kilometres.Tasmania is promoted as the natural state, the "Island of Inspiration",and A World Apart, Not A World Away owing to its large and relatively unspoiled natural environment. Almost 45% of Tasmania lies in reserves, national parks and World Heritage Sites.The island is 364 kilometres long from its northernmost to its southernmost points, and 306 kilometres from west to east.The state capital and largest city is Hobart, which encompasses the local government areas of City of Hobart, City of Glenorchy, and City of Clarence, while the satellite town of Kingston is generally included in the Greater Hobart area.The northernmost terrestrial point of the state of Tasmania is Boundary Islet, a nature reserve in Bass Strait which, due to a quirk of history, is shared with the state of Victoria.The subantarctic Macquarie Island and its surrounding islands are also under the administration of Tasmania as a nature reserve and part of the Huon Valley Council local government area. The Bishop and Clerk Islets, about 37 km south of Macquarie Island, are the southernmost terrestrial point of the state of Tasmania, and the southernmost internationally recognised land in Australia.The island was adjoined to the mainland of Australia until the end of the last glacial period approximately 10,000 years ago. Much of the island is composed of Jurassic dolerite intrusions through other rock types, sometimes forming large columnar joints. Tasmania has the world's largest areas of dolerite, with many distinctive mountains and cliffs formed from this rock type.The central plateau and the southeast portions of the island are mostly dolerite. Mount Wellington above Hobart is a good example, showing distinct columns known as the Organ Pipes. In the southern midlands as far south as Hobart, the dolerite is underlaid by sandstone and similar sedimentary stones. In the southwest, Precambrian quartzites was formed from very ancient sea sediments and form strikingly sharp ridges and ranges, such as Federation Peak or Frenchmans Cap.In the northeast and east, continental granites can be seen, such as at Freycinet, similar to coastal granites on mainland Australia. In the northwest and west, mineral-rich volcanic rock can be seen at Mount Read near Rosebery, or at Mount Lyell near Queenstown. Also present in the south and northwest is limestone with magnificent caves.The quartzite and dolerite areas in the higher mountains show evidence of glaciation, and much of Australia's glaciated landscape is found on the Central Plateau and the Southwest. Cradle Mountain, another dolerite peak, for example, was a nunatak. The combination of these different rock types offers incredible scenery, much of it distinct from any other region of the world. In the far southwest corner of the state, the geology is almost completely quartzite, which gives the mountains the false impression of having snow-capped peaks year round.

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Kakadu National Park is located within the Alligator Rivers Region of the Northern Territory of Australia. It covers an area of 19,804 km2,extending nearly 200 kilometres from north to south and over 100 kilometres from east to west. It is the size of Slovenia, about one-third the size of Tasmania, or nearly half the size of Switzerland. The Ranger Uranium Mine, one of the most productive uranium mines in the world, is surrounded by the park.The name Kakadu comes from the mispronunciation of Gaagudju, which is the name of an Aboriginal language formerly spoken in the northern part of the park. Kakadu is ecologically and biologically diverse.The cultural and natural values of Kakadu National Park were recognised internationally when the park was placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. This is an international register of properties that are recognised as having outstanding cultural or natural values of international significance. Kakadu was listed in three stages: stage 1 in 1981, stage 2 in 1987, and the entire park in 1992.Approximately half of the land in Kakadu is aboriginal land under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976, and most of the remaining land is currently under claim by Aboriginal people. The areas of the park that are owned by Aboriginal people are leased by the traditional owners to the Director of National Parks to be managed as a national park. The remaining area is commonwealth land vested under the Director of National Parks. All of Kakadu is declared a national park under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.The Aboriginal traditional owners of the park are descendants of various clan groups from the Kakadu area and have longstanding affiliations with this country. Their lifestyle has changed in recent years, but their traditional customs and beliefs remain very important. About 500 Aboriginal people live in the park, many of them are traditional owners. All of Kakadu is jointly managed by Aboriginal traditional owners and the Australian Government’s Department of the Environment and Water Resources through a division known as Parks Australia. Park Management is directed by the Kakadu Board of Management.

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The Twelve Apostles is a collection of limestone stacks off the shore of the Port Campbell National Park, by the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia. Their proximity to one another has made the site a popular tourist attraction.The apostles were formed by erosion: the harsh and extreme weather conditions from the Southern Ocean gradually eroded the soft limestone to form caves in the cliffs, which then became arches, which in turn collapsed; leaving rock stacks up to 45 metres high.The site was known as the Sow and Piglets until 1922.After which it was renamed to The Apostles for tourism purposes. The formation eventually became known as the Twelve Apostles, despite only ever having nine stacks.In 2002, the Port Campbell Professional Fishermens Association unsuccessfully attempted to block the creation of a proposed marine national park at the Twelve Apostles location,but were satisfied with the later Victorian Government decision not to allow seismic exploration at the same site by Benaris Energy;believing it would harm marine life.The stacks are susceptible to further erosion from the waves. On 3 July 2005, a 50 metre tall stack collapsed, leaving eight remaining. On 25 September 2009, it was thought that another of the stacks fell, but this was actually one of the smaller stacks of the Three Sisters formation.The rate of erosion at the base of the limestone pillars is approximately 2 cm per year.Due to wave action eroding the cliff face existing headlands are expected to become new limestone stacks in the future.

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Uluru also known as Ayers Rock and officially gazetted as Uluru / Ayers Rock,is a large sandstone rock formation in the southern part of the Northern Territory in central Australia. It lies 335 km south west of the nearest large town, Alice Springs, 450 km by road.Kata Tjuta and Uluru are the two major features of the Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park. Uluru is sacred to the Anangu, the Aboriginal people of the area. The area around the formation is home to a plethora of springs, waterholes, rock caves, and ancient paintings. Uluru is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.The local Pitjantjatjara people call the landmark Uluṟu .This word has no further particular meaning in the Pitjantjatjara language, although it is used as a local family name by the senior Traditional Owners of Uluru.On 19 July 1873, the surveyor William Gosse sighted the landmark and named it Ayers Rock in honour of the then Chief Secretary of South Australia, Sir Henry Ayers.Since then, both names have been used.In 1993, a dual naming policy was adopted that allowed official names that consist of both the traditional Aboriginal name and the English name. On 15 December 1993, it was renamed "Ayers Rock / Uluru" and became the first official dual-named feature in the Northern Territory. The order of the dual names was officially reversed to "Uluru / Ayers Rock" on 6 November 2002 following a request from the Regional Tourism Association in Alice Springs.Uluru is one of Australia's most recognisable natural landmarks. The sandstone formation stands 348 m high, rising 863 m above sea level, with most of its bulk lying underground, and has a total circumference of 9.4 km.Both Uluru and the nearby Kata Tjuta formation have great cultural significance for the Aṉangu people, the traditional inhabitants of the area, who lead walking tours to inform visitors about the local flora and fauna, bush foods and the Aboriginal dreamtime stories of the area.Uluru is notable for appearing to change colour at different times of the day and year, most notably glowing red at dawn and sunset.Kata Tjuta, also called Mount Olga or The Olgas, lies 25 km west of Uluru. Special viewing areas with road access and parking have been constructed to give tourists the best views of both sites at dawn and dusk.Uluru is an inselberg, literally "island mountain".An inselberg is a prominent isolated residual knob or hill that rises abruptly from and is surrounded by extensive and relatively flat erosion lowlands in a hot, dry region.Uluru is also often referred to as a monolith, although this is a somewhat ambiguous term that is generally avoided by geologists. The remarkable feature of Uluru is its homogeneity and lack of jointing and parting at bedding surfaces, leading to the lack of development of scree slopes and soil. These characteristics led to its survival, while the surrounding rocks were eroded.For the purpose of mapping and describing the geological history of the area, geologists refer to the rock strata making up Uluru as the Mutitjulu Arkose, and it is one of many sedimentary formations filling the Amadeus Basin.

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Sorrento is a township in Victoria, Australia, located on the shores of Port Phillip on the Mornington Peninsula, about one and a half hours south of Melbourne. It is a largely upper-class, seaside resort area, but is also a quiet seaside township in the off-peak months of the year.In 1803, 30 years before the founding of Melbourne, Sullivan Bay in Sorrento became the site of Victoria's first mainland European settlement.Due to a lack of fresh water the settlement was short lived and subsequently moved to Hobart in Tasmania. Victoria's first magistrates' court, public hospital, postal service and government printing office were established in Sorrento. The first Victorian wedding, christening and funeral services were held at Sullivans Bay.The first settlement site overlooking Sullivans Bay includes graves believed to be of first settlers.Sorrento Post Office opened on 10 January 1871.A horse and steam powered tram which ran between the foreshore and the back beach opened in 1890 and closed in 1920.The town has a number of grand historic homes and hotels which date back to the 1860s, almost all of which have been constructed with local limestone. The Australia ICOMOS charter for the conservation of places of cultural significance in the practice of local heritage protection has listed 30 properties.Mechanics' Institute, Sorrento was built in 1877 using local limestone and the building, which is now classified by the National Trust of Australia, houses the Nepean Historical Society's museum. Other notable limestone buildings still standing include: Sorrento Hotel, Anglican Church, Athenaeum Theatre,Continental Hotel, Whitehall Guest House. The sandstone Presbyterian Church was built around 1880. Ophir House, opposite the Masonic Lodge, a miniature Whitehall, was replaced by contemporary units. Stringers Store andSorrento has regular bus routes and a vehicular ferry, Peninsula Searoad Transport, operates an hourly service between Sorrento and Queenscliff.The Sorrento Park, established in 1870, contains a variety of trees, including an Aleppo Pine grown from the seed of the Lone Pine of Gallipoli.The town has an Australian Rules football team competing in the Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football League before winning flags in the PFA in 1929 and 1933, then the MPFL in 1935, 1953, 1964, 1969, 1979, 1980 then the MPNFL in 2004, 2008, 2010, 2011  and 2012. Former St.Kilda footballer Troy Schwarze coached the four grand finals between 2008 to 2011, before Nick Claringbold took over for 2012 so Troy could follow his dream coaching St.Kilda's mid-fielders at their new facility in Seaford and on match days. Troy played with Sorrento in about 9 matches during 2012 when not required in the AFL, and the finals series. Ben McCormack took over the captaincy from Dave Lawson when Dave was appointed coach at Crib Point 3 years ago.The Sorrento Cricket Club, coached by former Melbourne CC player and mystic guru Nic Davern, also known as "Tin Hat", competes in the Provincial Division of the Mornington Peninsula Cricket Association, having won the Sub-District in 1989/90 and 2002/03, District Division in 2005/2006. It also won senior premierships in the Southern Peninsula Cricket Association six in succession between 1946/47 and 1951/52, under Bill Clark and Arthur Robertson, then again in 1955/56 under Jack Mullen and 1957/58 under Derek Minter. Its first and only Provincial First XI premiership was 1971/72 under ex-Northcote and Collingwood player Graham Burt. Forty years on, the seniors had their next opportunity in a Provincial Grand Final losing to rivals Baxter in 2011/12. Season 2012/13 looked promising with the inclusion of ex-Victorian batsman Nick Jewell who scored 3 centuries before the Christmas interval, going on to win the Club Championship with 706 runs and 7 catches, including an opening partnership with Jedd Falck of 205. Sadly, a second consecutive grand final appearance failed.The original Macfarlan Reserve pavilion was erected in 1935 with a terraced grandstand upstairs. It was demolished and completely rebuilt in 1984 and re-opened as the Robert Keegan pavilion in 1985. Several balconies have been added since. Plans exist to add a gymnasium when funds are available.The Sorrento Tennis Club originally occupied the land beside the Museum and is a sunken garden today. It was relocated to its current site in the 1960s followed by the Scout Hall and fire track a decade or so later. Netball courts, a skate park and basketball stadium followed creating a single sports complex together with the lawn bowls rinks.

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Cape Otway is a cape and a bounded locality of the Colac Otway Shire in southern Victoria, Australia on the Great Ocean Road; much of the area is enclosed in the Great Otway National Park.Cape Otway was originally inhabited by the Gadubanud people; evidence of their campsites is contained in the middens throughout the region. The Cape was discovered by Europeans when Lieutenant James Grant made the first west to east passage through Bass Straight in the Lady Nelson in December 1800. Grant named it Cape Albany Otway after Captain William Albany Otway.This was later shortened to Cape Otway.Cape Otway Lighthouse was built on the point of the cape in 1848.

A Telegraph Office opened in 1859. The Post Office opened on 1 September 1880 and closed in 1972.Eight ships were wrecked along the coast of Cape Otway.These included the Marie, Sacramento , Schomberg , Loch Ard, Joseph H. Scammell, Fiji and the Casino in 1932. The first American vessel sunk during World War II, the SS City of Rayville, was also sunk off the Cape by a German mine. Following this, the Americans built a radar bunker on the cape in 1942; it is now open to the public.The hostile seas, where the Southern Ocean meets with Bass Strait, that surround Cape Otway are home to some of the worlds most prized marine species including crayfish and abalone. It is common on calm days for there to be as many as 20 abalone dive boats operating along the shoreline beneath the light house. Commercial cray fishers use baited pots or traps throughout the reef system, with white floats on the surface marking their locations.

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Fitzroy Island is a continental island out from Djujbirri , 29 km south east of Cairns, Queensland, Australia. It is a large tropical island, with a rainforest covering and its own fringe coral reef system.Fitzroy Island is a 60 minute ferry ride from Cairns in Queensland, and is surrounded by a reef system that forms part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Moorings as listed by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Protection Agency. 97 percent of the four square kilometre continental island is National Park, covered in tropical rainforest and freely accessible to the public via an established network of walking tracks.Total Area 339 hectares (838 acres) National Park Area 324 hectares Summit Height 269 metres.Fitzroy enjoys a typical North Queensland tropical climate but with the added advantage of the cooling effects of the prevailing SE ocean breezes for the majority of the year. Temperatures range from 24 - 31 C  in summer and 19 - 25 C  in winter.The island separated from the mainland, at the end of the last Ice Age. There were Aboriginal visits, mainly for visiting hunting trips and recreation. There were also links with England’s Captain Cook and  use of the island for a considerable time as a significant Chinese Quarantine Station . Subsequently it was used as a Mission School and then, during World War Two, as a Coast Watch Station. The island has also been important as a significant Lighthouse Base, with the last permanent lighthouse structures on the main island still being an important community attraction. Since its closure the marine community has been serviced with an automatic lighthouse based on the adjacent Little Fitzroy Island. There has been both a Giant Clam farm at Welcome Bay and now a Tourist Resort and Day Visitor Centre.

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Sydney is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia. It is on Australia's south-east coast, on the Tasman Sea. In June 2010 the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people.Inhabitants of Sydney are called Sydneysiders, comprising a cosmopolitan and international population.The site of the first British colony in Australia, Sydney was established in 1788 at Sydney Cove by Arthur Phillip, commodore of the First Fleet, as a penal colony.The city is built on hills surrounding Port Jackson, which is commonly known as Sydney Harbour, where the iconic Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge are prominent structures. The hinterland of the metropolitan area is surrounded by national parks, and the coastal regions feature many bays, rivers, inlets and beaches, including the famous Bondi and Manly beaches. Within the city are many notable parks, including Hyde Park and the Royal Botanic Gardens.Sydney is a consistently high-ranking world city for quality of life. It is ranked the 2nd best city in the world in the 2013 Anholt-GfK City Brands Index.It has hosted multiple major international sporting events, including the 1938 British Empire Games , the 2000 Summer Olympics and the final of the 2003 Rugby World Cup. The main airport serving Sydney is Sydney Airport and its main port is Port Botany.Radio carbon dating suggests that the Sydney region has been inhabited by indigenous Australians for at least 30,000 years.The historic indigenous inhabitants of Sydney Cove are the Cadigal people, whose land once stretched from south of Port Jackson to Petersham.While estimates of the population before the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 remain contentious, an estimated 4,000–8,000 Aboriginal people lived in the Sydney region before contact with British settlers. The British called the indigenous people the "Eora";when asked where they came from these people would answer: Eora, meaning "here", or "from this place" in their language.The three language groups in the Sydney region were divided into dialects, spoken by smaller clans. The principal languages were Darug, Dharawal and Guringai. Each clan had a territory, and the location of each territory determined the resources available. Although urbanisation has destroyed much earlier evidence of these settlements, such as shell middens, a number of Sydney rock engravings, carvings and rock art remain visible in the Hawkesbury sandstone of the Sydney basin.A Direct North General View of Sydney Cove, painted by convict and artist Thomas Watling in 1794.In 1770, British sea captain Lieutenant James Cook landed at Botany Bay on the Kurnell Peninsula. Here Cook made first contact with an Aboriginal community known as the Gweagal.Under instruction from the British government, Arthur Phillip founded a convict settlement in the area, arriving at Botany Bay with a fleet of 11 ships on 18 January 1788. Closer examination determined the site to be unsuitable for habitation, owing to poor soil and a lack of reliable fresh water. Phillip subsequently founded the colony one inlet further north along the coast, at Sydney Cove on Port Jackson on 26 January 1788. The official proclamation of the founding and naming of Sydney took place nearly two weeks later on 7 February 1788. The original name was intended to be Albion, but Phillip named the settlement after the British Home Secretary, Thomas Townshend, Lord Sydney, in recognition of Sydney's role in issuing the charter authorising Phillip to establish the colony.In April 1789, a catastrophic epidemic disease, now thought to be chickenpox, spread through the Eora people and surrounding groups, with the result that local Aborigines died by the thousands. Their bodies could often be seen bobbing in the water in Sydney Harbour.The cause of the epidemic has always been a matter of controversy, but if it was chickenpox, an outbreak of shingles among the convicts was the most likely explanations. Because the Eora had no immunity to such Eurasian endemic diseases, the results were catastrophic for them. By the early 1800s, the Aboriginal population of the Sydney basin "had been reduced to only 10 percent of the 1788 estimate",or an estimated 500 to 1000 Aboriginal people between Broken Bay and Botany Bay.

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