Ram Head or since 1970 Rame Head () is a coastal headland in eastern

Victoria, Australia Victoria, commonly abbreviated as Vic, is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state (after Tasmania), with a land area of ; the second-most-populated state (after New South Wales), with a population of over 7 million; ...

. It is within the

Croajingolong National Park The Croajingolong National Park is a coastal national park located in the East Gippsland region of the Australian state of Victoria. The national park is situated approximately east of Melbourne and south of Sydney. The name ''Croajingolong'' ...

. The local

aboriginal people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

call the headland Konowee or Kouowee. James Cook (

Captain Cook Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 1768 and 1779. He complet ...

) named today's Rame Head as he passed by on 19 April 1770 og date Cook named

Rame Head Rame Head or Ram Head () is a coastal headland, southwest of the village of Rame in southeast Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is part of the larger Rame Peninsula. History and antiquities The natural site was used for a promontory ...

Ram Head, after a point that can be seen going into

Plymouth Sound Plymouth Sound, or locally just The Sound, is a deep inlet or sound in the English Channel near Plymouth in England. Description Its southwest and southeast corners are Penlee Point in Cornwall and Wembury Point in Devon, a distance of abo ...

, Cook wrote the name Ram in

Modern English Modern English, sometimes called New English (NE) or present-day English (PDE) as opposed to Middle and Old English, is the form of the English language that has been spoken since the Great Vowel Shift in England England is a Count ...

(as used today) and that spelling was adopted by

Aaron Arrowsmith Aaron Arrowsmith (1750–1823) was an English cartographer, engraver, publisher and founding member of the Arrowsmith family of geographers. Life Arrowsmith moved to Soho Square, London, from Winston, County Durham, when about twenty years of ...

George Bass George Bass (; 30 January 1771 – after 5 February 1803) was a British naval surgeon and explorer of Australia. Early life Bass was born on 30 January 1771 at Aswarby, a hamlet near Sleaford, Lincolnshire, the son of a tenant farmer, George B ...

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 ...

, James Grant,

Louis de Freycinet Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet (7 August 1779 – 18 August 1841) was a French Navy officer. He circumnavigated the Earth, and in 1811 published the first map to show a full outline of the coastline of Australia. Biography He was born at M ...

and even John Hawesworth when commissioned by the Admiralty to edit Cook's papers and journal and that spelling became official when the Admiralty published Matthew Flinders' charts, dated January and February 1814. The

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

and later the

Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond. The Chief of Navy is also jointly responsible to the Minister for D ...

continued to use Cook's spelling of "Ram" for the headland in Australia. In the early 1800s, while Ram Head was still being used in Australia, the British reverted to the

Early Modern English Early Modern English (sometimes abbreviated EModEFor example, or EMnE) or Early New English (ENE) is the stage of the English language from the beginning of the Tudor period to the English Interregnum and Restoration, or from the transit ...

spelling of "Rame" for the point in Cornwall UK. In 1971, the

Victorian Government The Victoria State Government, also referred to as the Victorian Government, is the executive government of the Australian state of Victoria. As a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, the State Government was first formed in 1851 when Vic ...

gazetted the point as "Rame" to match its Cornish namesake. From Rame Head

In Cook's time, Naval Charts used Cook's spelling for the Headland in Cornwall, and the small village nearby mainly used the New modem English spelling, we use today. Around 1810 the small village and Headland, in Cornwall, reverted to the Old Modern English spelling of Rame. There are many grave stones in the area, dating back to the early and mid-1700s that also used "Ram". In 1986 one of Australia's foremost maritime historians, Lieutenant Commander Geoffrey Ingleton RAN – "An accomplished and fine Cartographer" – wrote in his book ''Matthew Flinders: Navigator and Chartmaker'' age 42 "The coastlines of both New South Wales (the present Victoria) and Van Diemens Land (the present Tasmania) were carefully delineated by Flinders, considering the nature and quickness of the survey. Particularly interesting was Flinders' correct identification of Cook's Ram Head, so named for its similarity to Rame Head in England in the western approaches to Plymouth. Flinders was familiar with its characteristic appearance – a conical hill on a distinctive promontory. The only feature on this coast SW of Cape Howe which meets exactly that description is the present Rame Head. This historic headland is identical with that shown on Flinders' charts; further, the name was correctly spelt by Flinders." There is a walking track to the "summit" of the head. However, this point lacks a clear vantage point over surrounding scrub, and is simply marked by a

trig point A triangulation station, also known as a trigonometrical point, and sometimes informally as a trig, is a fixed surveying station, used in geodetic surveying and other surveying projects in its vicinity. The station is usually set up by a map ...

References

Sources

Placenames Australia
journal of the ''Australian National Placenames Survey'', June 2002
Rame Head
at

Geoscience Australia Geoscience Australia is a statutory agency of the Government of Australia that carries out geoscientific research. The agency is the government's technical adviser on aspects of geoscience, and serves as the repository of geographic and geolo ...

See also

References

Sources

Further reading