Sealers’ Cove: Beauty Spot With a History
One of the least known but most attractive of the inlets on the ocean front of Victoria is Sealers’ Cove, lying on the east of the National Park at Wilson’s Promontory. On the western side of the Promontory, facing the rough westerly winds and breasting the surge of the prevailing ocean current, the vegetation, unless in protected valleys, presents a stunted and almost prostrate appearance in strong contrast to that of the eastern slope where owing to the shelter afforded by the high intervening ranges, the more favourable aspect, the greater humidity, and the influence of the warm Eastern Australian current the vegetation is almost sub-tropical in character, distinctive in its luxuriance from that of the drier and wind-blown western slope. The bays also on the western coast, beautiful as they are in appearance, are yet so open and exposed as to be scarcely available for shipping, while the bays and coves on the sheltered eastern coast are ordinarily havens of retreat for vessels under storm and stress on the open sea.
Our knowledge of Sealers’ Cove goes back to 1798, when George Bass, returning in his little whaleboat after having reached Westernport, sheltered for several days at Sealers’ Cove, and explored part of the land before resuming his perilous voyage to Port Jackson. After the foundation of Hobart in 1803, and the subsequent increase of population at that port, whaling and sealing were carried on in Bass Straits and Southern Victoria; and the islands in Westernport and the safe eastern harbours of Wilson’s Promontory were much frequented by whalers and sealers. The sealers sought the Australian sea-bear or furry seal, which, like most of our fauna has come almost to the verge of extinction. For carrying on these pursuits temporary camps were formed in these bays, and it is almost certain that in these sequestered spots the first desultory settlements by white men were made. The files of early Hobart papers bear reference to such occupation, and G. H. Haydon, who was in Gippsland in 1844, writes:—“Sealers’ Cove, Lady Bay, Bareback Cove are three safe harbours of Wilson’s Promontory and have each been occupied as whaling stations. They are still favourite cruising places for the colonial whalers, many tuns of oil being procured here annually. Numbers of fish must have been killed in Lady Bay, as the beach is literally strewed with their bones. On landing here in 1844 a discovery was made of a large tripod which had evidently been used for extracting the oil, and was in good preservation. Near the shore lay the remains of a Captain Wishart, a piece of board with carved letters on it informing the visitor that he belonged to a whaler called the Wallaby, and was killed by a whale’s fluke in 1830. This board is nailed to a gum tree, and four stumps are driven into the ground to indicate the exact site of the grave.”
A Refuge From Storms
It was at the Sealers’ Cove in January 1841 that passengers in the rowing boat from the ill-fated Clonmel temporarily landed on their hard pull from Corner Inlet to Port Phillip, whence relief was sent to the remaining shipwrecked crew and passengers. During the period of established intercolonial shipping there is frequent reference to vessels, tempest-tossed and weather-beaten, seeking the security of Sealers’ Cove, until favourable conditions prevailed, the last instance reported in the press being only a few months ago. Thus around Sealers’ Cove is woven a century of romance. The cove is somewhat elliptical in shape. Mountains, some of which are over 2,000ft. in height, rise at its back a few miles inland, spurs from which extend in bold headlands to the water-level, securely enclosing the cove. A beautiful sandy shell-strewn beach, about a mile and a half in length, lies between the rocky headlands. Separated from the beach by a low barrier of sandy soil overgrown with thick scrub and timber, and running parallel with it, is Sealers’ Creek, which flows southward until deflected in course by the hills eastward to the sea. The creek is a tidal stream, densely shaded with vegetation, which farther along its course and that of tributary streams becomes most luxuriant and varied, the flora rivalling in these respects the finest fern-gullies of Gippsland. Under lofty bluegums and blackwoods, above which the grey skeletons of still loftier dead trees stretch, grow stately tree-ferns, umbrageous Dicksonias and Alsophilas, and the tall, slender Cyatheas, spreading king-ferns, and almost every species of fern found in Victoria down to the daintiest forms of filmy ferns abound. Thickets of associated plants, mountain musk, hazel, pittosporum, lilly-pilly, blanket-wood paper-bark, and Christmas bush, in the rich soil and moist warm climate grow luxuriantly.
Luxuriant Forest Life
Higher up the gully the verdure is thicker, and the beautiful myrtle-beech appears. Some of it must be of great age, although it is still vigorous in growth. The sword-sedge, with sharp leaves up to 10ft. in length, grows amid the trees, and with more scrubby vegetation makes it difficult to penetrate the forest. Water flows over and among the granite rocks in every direction. Bronze-wing pigeons, gaudy parrots, and black cockatoos are seen, also the harmonious thrush, the lyre bird, and smaller songsters. Native bears frequent the bluegums, and view visitors with unconcern, and the black-backed wallaby or a startled fox may be seen momentarily. More than 25 years ago a sawmill cut out the mighty trees of mountain ash. From its jetty, now almost destroyed, a trolly-road, which Nature has almost obliterated or overgrown, serves to define the overland track for a couple of miles before diverging amid a tangle of undergrowth at the back of the foothills of the range. From the gently shelving beach one can see northward past the enclosing headland. Rabbit Island, where there is a mutton-bird rookery, off which is Lady Bay, the whalers’ haunt a century ago. Eastward on the horizon are four misty granite islands, from one of which when night falls comes the cheerful gleam from the lonely lighthouse of Cliffy Island. Given railway facilities to the port there is no doubt that many tourists would visit the eastern coast of the Promontory with its charming bays, attractive flora and diversity of picturesque scenery.
