| Type: | other |
| Cape Northumberland | |
| State: | SA |
| City: | Port MacDonnell |
| Elevation: | 30 |
| Coordinates: | -38.0628°N 140.6614°W |
| Coord Ref: | [1] |
| Dist1: | 393 |
| Dir1: | southeast |
| Location1: | Adelaide |
| Dist2: | 28 |
| Dir2: | southeast |
| Location2: | Mount Gambier |
| Footnotes: | Locations |
Cape Northumberland is a headland in the southeast of the Australian state of South Australia. It is the southernmost point of South Australia. It is located about from the town of Port MacDonnell, 28 kilometres south southwest from the municipal seat of Mount Gambier and about southeast of the state's capital Adelaide.[1] [2]
Cape Northumberland was named after Hugh Percy, Duke of Northumberland, by the Royal Navy officer, James Grant, on 3 December 1800, when he was mapping the southern coast of Australia aboard HMS Lady Nelson. The cape is the site of the historic Cape Northumberland Lighthouse, built in 1858. Because it was being undermined by the sea, a new lighthouse was constructed in 1882, about further inland. The position of original lighthouse is marked by a monument.[3] [1] [2]
The cape is located on the southeast coast of South Australia. It is the western end of Discovery Bay and its subsidiary, MacDonnell Bay.[1] The cape was described in 2017 in an American source as being "about high, is rugged and cliffy, with a hill rising to an elevation of behind it. It is the southernmost point on the South Australian coastline.[1]
Climate