Wilsons Promontory National Park
Wilsons Promontory National Park
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Wilsons Promontory National Park

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Wilsons Promontory National Park

The Wilsons Promontory National Park, commonly known as Wilsons Prom or The Prom, is a national park in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia, located approximately 157 kilometres (98 mi) southeast of Melbourne.

The 50,500-hectare (125,000-acre) national park is the southernmost national park on mainland Australia, known for its rainforests, beaches and abundant wildlife. The national park covers the southern portion of Wilsons Promontory, a peninsula containing South Point, the southernmost point on the Australian mainland, and a number of islands. A lighthouse on the south-east corner of the peninsula is the southernmost lighthouse on mainland Australia and has operated continuously since 1859.

The Park is highly popular with bushwalkers and campers, and has a number of lodges and serviced camping near the mouth of Tidal River as well as a number of hike-in camping areas catering for bushwalkers.

The first Europeans to sight Wilsons Promontory are believed to be George Bass and Matthew Flinders in 1798.

Extensive sealing took place at Sealer's Cove during the 19th Century, such that seals are no longer found there.

Lobbying by the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria (FNCV) and the Royal Society of Victoria (including Arthur Henry Shakespeare Lucas) led to the Victoria State Government temporarily reserving the area as National Park in 1898, made permanent in 1908. The original settlement in the Park was on the Darby River site, where a chalet existed. The FNCV has maintained a watching brief over the promontory for over 120 years.

The Wilsons Promontory was used as commando training area during World War II. A memorial to commandos who lost their lives in World War II is located at Tidal River.

A large section of the park was burnt out in April 2005 by a bushfire caused by a controlled burn that breached containment lines because of warmer and windier conditions than were forecast for that day, causing the evacuation of six-hundred people.

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