Cape Grim, officially Kennaook / Cape Grim, is the northwestern point of Tasmania, Australia. The Peerapper name for the cape is recorded as Kennaook.
It is the location of the Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station and of the Cape Grim Air ArchiveCape Grim: Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station (Tas) (Profile – Facility) which is operated by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology in a joint programme with the CSIRO. The station was established in 1976 and has been operating ever since. The data from Cape Grim have been used extensively in assessments of climate change and ozone depletion.Cape Grim
Geography Cape Grim's isolated geographic location makes it unique. The next land mass directly west of Cape Grim is not Africa, but the southern tip of Argentina. Winds that make their way to Cape Grim from Antarctica and the Indian Ocean hit no significant land mass. Air pollution values collected at Cape Grim are the closest attainable representation of a global average.Cape Grim
Climate Kennaook experiences an oceanic climate bordering on a Warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Cfb/Csb) The climate is highly influenced by the cape's position in the Roaring Forties. Hence, all months have recorded a wind gust speed exceeding . The wettest recorded day was 2 February 1990 with of rainfall. Extreme temperatures ranged from on 29 January 2009 to on 25 July 1986.
The Baseline Air Pollution Station also recorded climate data for temperature, precipitation and 3 pm conditions from 1985 to 2023.
A newer weather station opened in 2010. It records climate data for temperature and precipitation.
History
Western Tasmanian languages were spoken by Tasmanian Aborigines in the area but became extinct during the 19th century.
The headland was first charted and named Cape Grim by Matthew Flinders on 7 December 1798, as he sailed from the east in Norfolk and found a long swell coming from the south-west, confirming for the first time that Van Diemen's Land was separated from the Australian mainland by a strait, which he named Bass Strait.Ernest Scott, p. 138, The Life of Captain Matthew Flinders, R.N., Angus & Robertson, 1914.
In 1828, Victory Hill at Cape Grim was the site of the Cape Grim massacre of thirty Peerapper people by four shepherds.Lyndall Ryan, pp. 135–137, The Aboriginal Tasmanians, Allen & Unwin, 1996,
Cape Grim received dual naming in March 2021.
See also Woolnorth Wind Farm
References