Cape Leeuwin, Coastal headland at most south-westerly point, Western Australia

Cape Leeuwin is the most south-westerly mainland point of Australia, a low headland in Western Australia where the Indian and Southern Oceans are said to meet. On it stands a tall, slender round lighthouse of pale grey stone, slightly tapered, with a glass lantern room under a domed cap. Low white keeper's buildings with dark roofs sit at its base among green and brown scrub above the shoreline.

A Dutch ship called the Leeuwin first documented this spot in 1622, and explorer Matthew Flinders later named the cape after that vessel. These early sea encounters shaped the European map of this remote south-western coast.

The Wardandi, the area's first peoples, called the cape Doogalup. The name Leeuwin comes from a Dutch ship, the Leeuwin ("Lioness"), which charted part of the south-west coast in 1622; Matthew Flinders named the cape after it in December 1801. The cape is often paired with Cape Naturaliste as "the Capes".

The lighthouse offers guided visits with access to an observation platform where you can watch the meeting of two oceans and the surrounding landscape. Be ready for strong winds and changeable weather, especially if you plan to explore the outdoor areas.

The cape's name rhymes with "flew in", as Rudyard Kipling's poem for the children's story The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo shows. The Leeuwin, a Dutch ship, was the seventh European vessel to sight the Australian continent.