Kangaroo Head is a headland in the

Australian state The states and territories are the national subdivisions and second level of government of Australia. The states are partially sovereignty, sovereign, administrative divisions that are autonomous administrative division, self-governing polity, ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

located at the north-west tip of

Dudley Peninsula Dudley Peninsula (known as Presquila Gallissoniere and as the MacDonnell Peninsula from 1857 to 1986) is the peninsula forming the eastern end of Kangaroo Island in the Australian state of South Australia. It was occupied by Aboriginal Austra ...

Kangaroo Island Kangaroo Island (, ) is Australia's third-largest island, after Tasmania and Melville Island, Northern Territory, Melville Island. It lies in the state of South Australia, southwest of Adelaide. Its closest point to the mainland is Snapper Poi ...

. It was named by the British explorer,

Matthew Flinders Captain (Royal Navy), Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a British Royal Navy officer, navigator and cartographer who led the first littoral zone, inshore circumnavigate, circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then ...

, on 23 March 1802.

Description

Kangaroo Head is the north-west tip of Dudley Peninsula on Kangaroo Island and overlooks Nepean Bay to the west,

Investigator Strait Investigator Strait is a body of water in South Australia lying between the Yorke Peninsula, on the Australian mainland, and Kangaroo Island. It was named by Matthew Flinders after his ship, HMS ''Investigator'', on his voyage of 1801–1802. ...

to the north and

Backstairs Passage The Backstairs Passage is a strait in South Australia lying between Fleurieu Peninsula on the Australian mainland and Dudley Peninsula on the eastern end of Kangaroo Island. The western edge of the passage is a line from Cape Jervis (headland), ...

to the east. It is the termination for a pair of coastlines - one extending from Cape Willoughby in the east via Backstairs Passage and the other extending from Strawbridge Point in the south via Nepean Bay. It is described as ‘a bluff, rocky point marked by a conspicuous white cairn’ where the land behind ‘rises steeply to heights of to ’. Since 2002, it has been located within the gazetted locality of Kangaroo Head.

Formation, geology & oceanography

Kangaroo Head was formed when the sea reached its present level 7,500 years ago after sea levels started to rise at the start of the

Holocene The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...

. The cliff line which includes Kangaroo Head consists of a grey metasandstone belonging to the

Kanmantoo group The Kanmantoo group is a label for the kind of rocks found predominantly along the eastern side of the southern Mount Lofty Ranges, including Fleurieu Peninsula and Kangaroo Island. Examples of where they are visible at the surface include severa ...

bedrock known as the Tananappa Formation. The water adjoining Kangaroo Head drops to a depth of at the base of its cliff face.

History

Aboriginal use

As of 1999, the literature had not cited any archaeological discoveries specific to Aboriginal use of land in the immediate vicinity of Kangaroo Head.

European discovery

Kangaroo Head was discovered and named by Matthew Flinders on 23 March 1802. This place was where Flinders first sighted

Mount Lofty Mount Lofty (, elevation AHD) is the highest point in the southern Mount Lofty Ranges. It is located about east of the Adelaide city centre, within the Cleland National Park in the Adelaide Hills area of South Australia. The mountain's su ...

, the tallest peak in the

Mount Lofty Ranges The Mount Lofty Ranges are a range of mountains in the Australian state of South Australia which for a small part of its length borders the east of Adelaide. The part of the range in the vicinity of Adelaide is called the Adelaide Hills and d ...

Economic activity

As of 2014, the land adjoining Kangaroo Head is used for

farming Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

. Farming activity at the locality had been underway prior to 1945 when most of the land had been reported as being cleared of native vegetation.

References

Headlands of Kangaroo Island Dudley Peninsula Backstairs Passage {{SouthAustralia-geo-stub