Cape Leeuwin

Cape Leeuwin /ˈluːwɪn/ ^ⓘ is the most south-westerly (but not most southerly) mainland point of the Australian continent, in the state of Western Australia.

A few small islands and rocks, the St Alouarn Islands, extend further in Flinders Bay to the east of the cape. The nearest settlement, north of the cape, is Augusta. South-east of Cape Leeuwin, the coast of Western Australia extends much further south. Cape Leeuwin is not the southernmost point of Western Australia, with that distinction belonging to West Cape Howe, which is to the southeast, near Albany.

In Australia, the cape is considered where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean, but most other nations and bodies define the Southern Ocean as existing south of 60°S.

Located on headland of the cape is the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse and the buildings that were used by the lighthouse-keepers.

Cape Leeuwin is considered one of the three "great capes" of the world.

Cape Leeuwin is often grouped with the next headland north, Cape Naturaliste, to identify the geography and ecology of the region. One example is in the name Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park. Another is in the use of the phrases Cape to Cape or the Capes in tourist promotional materials. A shore base and a ship of the Royal Australian Navy have been named HMAS Leeuwin after the cape.

The Wardandi, an Aboriginal Australian people, were the first peoples in the area. They called it Doogalup.

The English navigator Matthew Flinders named Cape Leeuwin after the first known ship to have visited the area, Leeuwin (lit. 'Lioness'), a Dutch vessel that charted some of the nearby coastlines in 1622. The log of Leeuwin has been lost, so very little is known of the voyage. However, the land found by Leeuwin was recorded on a 1627 map by Hessel Gerritsz: Caert van't Landt van d'Eendracht (transl. Chart of the Land of Eendracht), which appears to show the coast between present-day Hamelin Bay and Point D'Entrecasteaux. Cape Leeuwin itself cannot be recognised.