Stop 9 -
Harveys returnA steep but rewarding hike (1 kilometre return) to the tiny cove originally known as Murrells Landing will have you pondering the hardships and endurance of pioneering settlers.
The cove was initially used by Joseph Murrell to load salted seal skins collected from the area in the early 1800s. It was an extremely dangerous landing site and the early hunters must have been skilful and hardy seamen.
In 1834 the cove became known as
Harveys Return and it is the nearest landing site to
Cape Borda Lightstation. Much of the material used to build the lighthouse was landed at
Harveys Return in 1858. In 1859, following repeated requests from the first head lighthouse keeper Captain Woodward, provision was made for a double track and trolleys down the steep incline with a horse-drawn winch near
the top.
The sea to land transfer of goods continued to be a dangerous and hazardous affair, until the site was finally abandoned around 1928. Relics of the landing apparatus are still visible today, including the base of a derrick crane that was erected atop a rocky platform in 1923, with an additional connecting rail.
A history of the difficulties of
Harveys Return as a loading site and subsequent improvements is presented at
Cape Borda museum.
The valley leading to the cove contains drooping sheoaks (Allocasuarina verticillata), the predominant food source for the endangered glossy black-cockatoo. If you move quietly you may be rewarded with a ‘flash of red’ from the glossy black- cockatoos’ tail feathers as they fly overhead.
Spectacular outcrops of tightly folded, thinly bedded schists (known as zebra
schists due to its bands of colours) can be seenof colours) can be seen at the base of the cliffs on the western side of the cove.
A 400 metre section of this coastline has been designated as a ‘geological monument’ by the Geological Society of Australia.
