Mornington Peninsula
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Mornington Peninsula Mornington Peninsula |
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| Geographical location | ||
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| Coordinates | 38 ° 21 ′ S , 145 ° 4 ′ E | |
| Waters 1 | Port Phillip | |
| Waters 2 | Bass Street | |
| surface | 720 km² | |
The Mornington Peninsula ( English Mornington Peninsula ) is an approximately 720 km² peninsula south of the Australian metropolis Melbourne . It delimits the large bay of Port Phillip to the south from the sea.
Locals often just call it the peninsula . The peninsula serves as an important recreational area for the residents of Melbourne. There are 14 golf courses alone, many beaches and campsites as well as two national parks, the Mornington Peninsula National Park and the Point Nepean National Park . Point Neapan is the westernmost point of the peninsula, located at the entrance to the bay called The Rip and opposite the Bellarine Peninsula .
The peninsula is named after the administrative district ( LGA ) Mornington Peninsula Shire .
history
Before it was settled by the Europeans, the area was inhabited by Aborigines from the Bunurong tribe. After Melbourne was founded in 1835, the once forested peninsula was almost completely cleared to produce firewood and farmland.
In 1878, the coastal fortification Fort Nepean was built on the peninsula near Point Neapan . On August 5, 1914, the Pfalz , a German Rhineland-class ship , was stopped from this fort and forced to surrender. After the Second World War the fortress was dissolved.
On December 17, 1967, then Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt drowned while bathing on Cheviot Beach on the Mornington Peninsula.
swell
- About the Mornington Peninsula. Mornington Peninsula Council, accessed March 27, 2012 .