History
Indigenous Australians occupied the area at least 6,500 years ago based on archaeological records.
The first Europeans to sight Wilsons Promontory are believed to be George Bass and Matthew Flinders in 1798.
Extensive sealing took place at Sealer's Cove during the 19th Century, such that seals are no longer found there.
Lobbying by the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria and the Royal Society of Victoria (including Arthur Henry Shakespeare Lucas) led to the Government of Victoria temporarily reserve the area as National Park in 1898, made permanent in 1908. The original settlement in the Park was on the Darby River site, where a chalet existed.
The Prom was used as commando training area during World War II.
During the Black Saturday Fires (February 2009) throughout Victoria, Wilsons Prom had been struck by lightning, which then led to the loss of up to 50% of the park through extensive fire damage.
Read more about this topic: Wilsons Promontory National Park
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Philosophy of science without history of science is empty; history of science without philosophy of science is blind.”
—Imre Lakatos (1922–1974)
“Don’t give your opinions about Art and the Purpose of Life. They are of little interest and, anyway, you can’t express them. Don’t analyse yourself. Give the relevant facts and let your readers make their own judgments. Stick to your story. It is not the most important subject in history but it is one about which you are uniquely qualified to speak.”
—Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966)
“If usually the “present age” is no very long time, still, at our pleasure, or in the service of some such unity of meaning as the history of civilization, or the study of geology, may suggest, we may conceive the present as extending over many centuries, or over a hundred thousand years.”
—Josiah Royce (1855–1916)