Images(2)

Wilson's Promontory

Maker Commander M G H W Ross RN

Date1856

Object number00004084

NameChart

MediumInk on paper

DimensionsOverall: 640 x 665 mm

ClassificationsMaps, charts and plans

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionThis survey chart of Wilson's Promontory in Victoria was published by the British Hydrographic Office in 1865. It shows the location of a proposed lighthouse at the southern most point of the Victoria.HistoryThis survey of Wilson's Promontory in Victoria shows some coastal detail, but was primarily undertaken to add to navigational knowledge of the area where a lighthouse was under construction. The lighthouse was built with convict labour between 1853 and 1859. The survey notes the distance (25 miles) and arc of visibility of the lighthouse, as well as anchorages, currents, soundings and shipping hazards. As a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, in 1848 M. G. H. W. Ross took part in the search for the missing Franklin arctic expedition. Promoted to Commander, during the 1850s Ross was posted to Australian service and conducted many surveys along the Victorian coastline and in Bass Strait, including the submarine cable from Melbourne to Tasmania in 1859.SignificanceWilson's Promontory figures greatly in Australian maritime history as the southern most point of the Australian continental land mass. The lighthouse, marked on this chart as a 'proposed light', has a long history of protecting shipping through Bass Strait. It is one of the most well known lighthouses in the country.