Dudley Peninsula
Dudley Peninsula is the peninsula forming the eastern end of Kangaroo Island in the Australian state of South Australia. It was inhabited by Aboriginal Australians as recently as 3,100 years BP but was found to be unoccupied by the first European explorers to visit it in the early 19th century. It was first settled by Europeans as early as the 1830s. As of 2011, it had a population of 595 people.
Extent
Dudley Peninsula is the eastern end of Kangaroo Island. It is connected to the main body of the island via an isthmus which itself forms the southern side of Pelican Lagoon. The peninsula is bounded to the west by Pelican Lagoon, American River and Eastern Cove all within Nepean Bay, to the north-east by Backstairs Passage from Kangaroo Head in the west to Cape Willoughby in the east and to the south by the body of water known in Australia as the Southern Ocean and by international authorities as the Great Australian Bight.Naming
The first reported European name for the Dudley Peninsula is "Presquila Gallissoniere" which was given by the Baudin Expedition. In 1857, it was named the "MacDonnell Peninsula" by William Bloomfield Douglas after Richard Graves MacDonnell, the sixth governor of South Australia. On 20 March 1986, it was renamed as the "Dudley Peninsula" to be "in keeping with local usage."History
Aboriginal use
The archaeological record indicates that Kangaroo Island was inhabited by Aboriginal Australians as early as 16,110 years BP. European explorers visiting in the early 19th century found no evidence of human occupation as evident by lack of smoke from fires which was common along the Australian coastline at the time, overgrown vegetation that had not been managed by "firestick farming" and animals such as seals and kangaroos "appeared unused to human presence". Aboriginal sites have been identified by the South Australian Museum and others on the Dudley Peninsula. As of 1999, radiocarbon dating of material recovered via archaeological excavation from a site called Pigs Waterhole on the peninsula suggest aboriginal presence in the eastern end of Kangaroo Island as recently as 3,100 years BP.European discovery and settlement
Dudley Peninsula was first visited by European navigators in 1802 when the British navigator, Matthew Flinders, explored its north coast during March 1802. After meeting Flinders at Encounter Bay in April 1802, the Baudin expedition visited the peninsula's north coast later in April 1802 and explored its south coast during January 1803.Formal settlement commenced in 1836 with a fleet under the control of the South Australian Company arriving at what is now Kingscote further west on Kangaroo Island. Some of the people who had been living on that part of Kangaroo Island prior to 1836 moved to the peninsula to avoid being within the jurisdiction of the South Australian Company and thereby making it "most prosperous part of the island and the scene of its first significant agricultural and pastoral development."
The full extent of Kangaroo Island was gazetted on 13 August 1874 as the cadastral division known as the County of Carnarvon simultaneously with the creation of another cadastral division, the Hundred of Dudley, which covers the full extent of what is now the Dudley Peninsula. In 1875, land in the Hundred of Dudley near the north coast of the peninsula was surveyed and given freehold title in response for the demand for agricultural land.
The town of Penneshaw was proclaimed on 12 January 1882. On 7 June 1888, the local government area of the District Council of Dudley was established. This was subsequently merged in 1996 with the District Council of Kingscote to create the Kangaroo Island Council.
Natural geography
Geomorphology and geology
The Dudley Peninsula came into existence about 9,500 years BP when Kangaroo Island became separate from what is now Fleurieu Peninsula due to the rise in sea level following the end of the last ice age.The peninsula has a plateau covering its northern half with a maximum height of about while the southern half has a maximum height in the order of. Its coastline consists of a cliff-line in the order of to in height with the exception of sandy bays such as Nepean Bay in the north-west coast, Antechamber Bay in the north east coast and Pennington Bay on the south-west coast.
The peninsula has a geological basement of Tapanappa Formation sandstones which were laid during the early Cambrian period. The basement stratum has undergone extensive erosion to create laterite based soil which covers the northern half of the peninsula. The southern half of the peninsula has a Bridgewater Group limestone which was laid over the basement stratum during the Pleistocene and which has eroded to form a dune field.