A bushwalking guide to Wilsons Promontory National Park

Wilsons Promontory (or “The Prom”) is my favourite National Park in Victoria, with some spectacular bushwalks, unspoilt beaches, lots of wildlife and great coastal views. The only downside of the park is that its natural beauty and relative proximity to Melbourrne means that it gets really busy on holiday weekends, especially in summer – so for the best experience, try and avoid these times!

The 505 km² (125,000-acre) national park is a peninsula to the southeast of Melbourne in the Gippsland area, within which is the southernmost point of mainland Australia. The lighthouse on the south-east corner of the peninsula is the southernmost lighthouse on mainland Australia and has operated continuously since 1859. The park offers a wide range of bushwalks, including multi-day hikes. Wilsons Promontory National Park contains the largest coastal wilderness area in Victoria, and it has been designated by UNESCO as a Biosphere Reserve due to its outstanding conservation, recreation and wilderness values.

Bushwalks from Wilsons Promontary Road (Northern Section)

The northern section of Wilsons Prom has a number of short and easy bushwalks to beaches on the western side of the park, and more challenging routes on the eastern side. The Wilsons Prom Northern Circuit is a demanding loop walk that generally takes 4-6 days to complete. For any overnight walks in the northern section of Wilsons Prom, you must (1) call the park office on 03 8427 2122 to obtain an overnight hiking permit and (2) complete a Hiker Self Assessment Form [PDF].

Bushwalk	Length	Grade	Description	AllTrails Map
Squeaky Beach	0.8km	Easy	Iconic location with “squeaky” sand	Map
Whisky Bay	0.8km	Easy	Small, sheltered beach	Map
Picnic Bay	1km	Easy	Beautiful bay with intertidal rock pools	Map
Darby Beach	2.2km	Easy	Sand track to small & exposed beach	Map
Cotters Beach	3.9km	Easy	Easy trail to windswept beach	Map
Millers Landing Nature Walk	4.2km	Easy	Woodland to southern-most stand of mangroves in the world	Map
Vereker Outlook	5.4km	Easy	Panoramic views to Darby Saddle, Corner Inlet & Cotters Beach	Map
Tongue Point (from Darby River)	7.7km	Easy/Moderate	Great views. Steep decent out to point.	Map
Darby River to Darby Saddle	10.5km	Easy/Moderate	Exposed trail (one-way) with views & sheltered cove	Map
Tongue Point (from Darby Saddle)	11.9km	Easy/Moderate	Forest and spectactular coastal scenery
Five Mile Beach	36.4km	Moderate	Easiest route in remote northern section of park	Map
Wilsons Prom Northern Circuit	58.9km	Hard	Part trail and part bush-bashing in remote section of park	Map

Bushwalks from Tidal River

Tidal River is the main visitor hub of Wilsons Promontory National Park, and has a range of accommodation (see below). A number of short bushwalks start from here; you can also start the multi-day Southern Prom Circuit from here – although Telegraph Saddle Carpark is the more common starting and finishing point.

Bushwalk	Length	Grade	Description	AllTrails Map
Loo-Errn Track	2km	Easy	Boardwalk along Tidal estuarine wetlands
Pillar Point	3.8km	Easy	Outcrop of granite boulders; spectacular views of Norman & Squeaky Beaches	Map
Norman Beach Loop	4.5km	Easy	Highest point between Norman Bay and Leonard Bay	Map
Tidal Overlook Circuit	4.7km	Easy	Loop walk from Visitor Centre. Great views of Mt Oberon	Map
Drift Track (Big Drift)	4.8km	Easy/Moderate	Interesting dune landscape	Map
Lilly Pilly Track	5.5km	Easy	Heathland, eucalypt forest warm temperature rainforest	Map
Squeaky Beach	6.3km	Easy	Sweeping coastal views on way to iconic location	Map
Mount Oberon	6.4km	Easy/Moderate	360-degree view of the park from summit. Steep climb.	Map
Mount Bishop	6.8km	Easy/Moderate	Rocky summit with spectacular views over west coast	Map
Little Oberon Bay ^	9.2km	Easy	Coastal views on the way to beautiful beach	Map
Three Bays	14.1km	Easy/Moderate	Spectacular bushwalk connecting three beaches + views	Map
Oberon Beach Loop ^	20.9km	Moderate	Loop along western beaches; walk along TT not so nice	Map
Refuge Cove Loop ^	41.4km	Moderate	All the beaches of the Southern Circuit (2 days)	Map

Bushwalks from Telegraph Saddle

While many of the bushwalks from Telegraph Saddle can be done as “out and back” day hikes or overnight bushwalks, the most popular option is to do the Wilsons Prom Southern Circuit. This 2-4 day loop takes in all of the spectacular bays beaches in this areas, as well as the Lighthouse.

Bushwalk	Length	Grade	Description	AllTrails Map
Sealers Cove ^	19.8km	Easy/Moderate	Beautiful beach with campsite.	Map
Waterloo Bay ^	23.7km	Easy/Moderate	Beautiful beach with campsite	Map
Lightstation via Telegraph Track ^	35.4km	Moderate	Most direct route to Lighthouse via interior of park	Map
Telegraph Saddle Loop ^	37km	Moderate	Some of the best parts of the Southern Circuit	Map
Lightstation via Waterloo Bay ^	40km	Moderate	More scenic route to south eastern corner of Wilsons Prom	Map
Southern Circuit	60km	Moderate/Hard	Long loop covering the entire southern section of park	Map

Where to stay in and around Wilsons Prom

Tidal River has 484 camping and caravan sites, including powered sites as well as huts, cabins and units. It makes a good base for the large number of day hikes in Wilsons Promontory. Bookings are essential (Wilsons Prom Overnight Hiking bookings).

• Parks Victoria – Tidal River Accommodation / Tidal River Campgound / Campground bookings

There’s also a smaller campground – Stockyards Campground – near the Wilsons Promontory entrance gate which is a little less busy, but bookings are also essential here year-round. It makea good base for the northern bushwalks, especially in the cooler rmonths. (The open grassy campground contains shelters, a camp kitchen and picnic tables.)

• Parks Victoria – Stockyards Campground

Southern section accommodation

There are a number of campsites along the Wilsons Promontory Southern Circuit hike, which must all be pre-booked at least 24 hours in advance (links below are to the Parks Victoria campsite information and booking page).

Site	Description	Facilities	Water	Capacity
Sealers Cove	Sheltered campsite behind beach	Toilets	Creek	60
Refuge Cove	Camping area behind secluded beach	Toilets	Creek	60
Little Waterloo Bay	Camping area near beach	Toilets, tables	Creek	60
Oberon Bay	Camping area near beach	Toilets	Tank	40
Roaring Meg	Inland bush campsite near South Point	Toilets	Creek	40
Halfway Hut	Inland bush campsite along Telegraph Track	Toilets	Tank	30

As well as the campsites, there is cottage accommodation at the Lightstation. Doonas can be hired, which means you can do an overnight trip carrying just your food and water.

• Banks Cottage – self-contained cottage for 2 guests. Availability is very limited.
• Shared Cottage – shared lounge, dining and bathroom facilities with fully equipped kitchen. 20 bedrooms sleeping 2-4 people in bunk beds.

Northern section camping

The northern part of Wilsons Promontory is classified as a wilderness zone, and has few facilities. There are five overnight hiking campsites on the northern wilderness, but they cannot be booked online. Anyone doing an overnight hike in the northern section must complete a Hiker Self Assessment Form and get a hiking permit by calling the office. You can stay in any of the campsites for a maximum of two nights.

Site	Description	Facilities	Water	Capacity
Barry Creek	Good water source.	Nil	Creek	8
Lower Barry Creek	Small forest clearing. Space for 2-3 tents.	Nil	Creek	8
Five Mile Beach	Space for max 5 tents. Water across the estuary	Nil	Creek	12
Tin Mine Cove	Space for 10 tents	Nil	Creek (poor quality)	18
Johnny Souey Cove	Space for 1-2 small tents. Nicer boaters camp nearby	Nil	Creek (unreliable)	6

Yanakie is the closest town to Wilsons Promontory, and has a number of cottages and some motels and hotels – although these get booked out over summer. I’ve stayed at Black Cockatoo Cottages, which is a few minutes from the park entrance and makes a good base for day walks.

Booking.com

Flora & Fauna

Wilsons Promontory National Park is home to a wide range of wildlife species, including kangaroos, wombats, echidnas, emus, and a wide range of small marsupials – it’s one of the few places in Australia where I’ve seen a koala in the wild. Wilsons Promontory is significant because it is one of the few areas in Victoria where the rivers and streams are largely unmodified by
drainage and engineering works and free of introduced fish and aquatic weed species – about half of the 40 known species of native freshwater fish in Victoria occur at Wilsons Promontory.

Wilsons Prom beaches

Wilsons Promontory National Park has a number of beaches along its coastline: in total, there are over 30 beaches within the park’s boundaries, and most of them can be reached by foot – although some require a long bushwalk! Some of the most popular and picturesque beaches are:

A brief history of Wilsons Prom

Wilsons Promontory is known as Yiruk and Wamoon by the Aboriginal people who lived in the area, with archaeological evidence showing habitation going back 6,500 years before European colonisation. The European history of the Prom began on the morning of 2 January 1798, when George Bass and his six companions (on their whaleboat expedition from Port Jackson to Western Port) sighted the ‘high, hummocky land’. On their return journey, they were forced to shelter in a small, quiet bay which Bass named Sealers Cove. On his return to Port Jackson, Bass recommended to Governor Hunter that the name of the promontory be called Wilsons Promontory, in honour of Flinders’s friend from London, Thomas Wilson (little is known of Wilson).

During the 19th century seal hunting and shore-based whaling was conducted in the area, until it become economically unsustainable (as all the seals had been killed). From the mid 19th century the area was used for cattle grazing, with G.D Smythe of Alberton taking out an annual grazing license for 19,200 acres on Waratah Bay in 1849. In the 1860s John and Will Baragwanath applied for and obtained the Sealers’ Cove Run for cattle grazing, and there were many other leases (or Runs) across the promontory. Sealers Cove was also the site of a timber mill in the 1840s, when all the large trees around the bay were logged.

In 1887 the Government proposed to alienate the whole of the promontory to settlement, but lobbying by the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria and the Royal Society of Victoria resulted in the Victorian Government temporarily reserving the area as National Park in 1898. This was made permanent in 1905, with the original settlement in the Park being on the Darby River site where a chalet existed. However, part of the promontory (the southern sector of Yanakie Isthmus) remained as farmland until 1969 when it was incorporated into the National Park, and some cattle grazing was allowed in this area until the 1990s.

When to visit Wilsons Promontory

The best time to visit Wilsons Promontory is over summer, when rainfall is lowest and the warmer weather allows swimming – but this is also the busiest time and accommodation quickly books out over the school holiday period. Late summer (after the holiday period) and autumn is a good time for bushwalking, and the climate is fairly mild so you can walk year-round.

Getting to Wilsons Promontory

Wilsons Promontory National Park is 225km south of Melbourne, or about a 3 hour drive. There’s no public transport to Tidal River – you need to drive, or you can book a tour out of Melbourne. Tidal River is the hub of Wilsons Promontory, and has a Visitors Centre (open from 9am to 4pm, 7 days a week) as well as a cafe and General Store (which stocks basic supermarket items, a range of souvenirs and camping gear). There’s no fuel available inside the national park, with the nearest petrol station and major town being at Yanakie, 37km north of Tidal River. 

More information

• Parks Victoria – Wilsons Promontory National Park [PDF]
• Parks Victoria – Wilson Promontory Overnight Hiking – Accommodation Bookings
• Victorian National Parks Association (John Garnet) – A History of Wilsons Promontory [Download PDF]