What’s special

With great granite boulders, tall forests, coastal heathlands, sweeping sandy coves and crystal surf, ‘The Prom’ is one of Victoria’s most loved national parks.

Best time to visit

Summer for the beaches, spring and autumn for walking, and winter for atmosphere (sunny days to Bass Strait gales). Avoid holiday times if you want the Prom without the crowds.

What to do

Short and long-distance walking, birdwatching, swimming, photography, scuba diving and snorkeling.

Accessibility

Wheelchair accessible facilities are available at Tidal River and picnic areas. All-terrain and beach wheelchairs are also available for use at Tidal River and mobility equipment is available for use in park accommodation.

See the Parks Victoria website for more information.

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Where

Wilsons Promontory is about 200km south-east of Melbourne via the South Gippsland Highway (A440), Meeniyan and Fish Creek. It is the most southern point of the Australian mainland.

Accommodation

Booking is recommended for campsites, cabins, huts, group lodges and wilderness retreats at Tidal River, and essential during holiday periods. See the Parks Victoria website. A range of accommodation is also available outside the park entrance. The nearest towns are Fish Creek and Foster.

About the park

The Prom was first reserved as a national park in 1898, largely through action by the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria. However, the Prom has long been held in high esteem by several Aboriginal communities as ‘Yiruk’ or ‘Wamoon’, the home of Looern. The middens of discarded shells that are exposed in many of the bays are evidence of pre-European occupation.

In the 19th century the Prom was exploited for whales, seals, timber and tin, but the area has long had national park protection, and now the waters surrounding it are also protected in marine national parks and reserves.

In more recent times, we have led a number of successful protests at the Prom, halting proposed commercial developments.

Natural history

About 12,000 years ago, when an ice age greatly lowered the sea level, you could walk to Tasmania along a route marked now by Bass Strait islands between the Prom and Flinders Island. Some plants on the Prom, such as crimson berry, are very rare in Victoria but common in Tasmania.

The Prom has a great range of habitat types, including tall ash forests, banksia woodlands, cool-temperate rainforests and coastal heathlands. If you venture underwater you can see a heady mix of colourful marine life, particularly around the tumbled granite boulders off the coastline.

Ecologists are currently planning to restore the once open grassy woodlands of the Yanakie Isthmus (at the entrance to the park). A history of cattle grazing and fire have turned those once open woodlands to dense tee tree.

More info

Discovering the Prom by Phil Ingamells: VNPA shop

A History of Wilsons Promontory by John Roslyn Garnet

Friends groups

Friends of the Prom
Email: [email protected]
www.friendsoftheprom.org.au