Includes bibliographical references and index.

This book is a guide for readers who are curious about what they see along the coast. What are the animals and plants that live along the shore? How were the rock layers in the cliffs formed? What was this place like 150 years ago? Who used this decrepit jetty?The book takes a journey along the coast, beginning at Point Lonsdale at the entrance to Port Phillip, then heading west towards Nelson on the South Australian border. This 420 km shoreline offers spectacular scenery, the formations around the Twelve Apostles and Port Campbell topping the list. Other wave-battered cliffs such as Cape Otway, Cape Nelson and Cape Bridgewater are also monumental. There are popular surf beaches along the Surf Coast, while further west you can have long sandy beaches to yourself.An introductory chapter gives a brief overview of early history relating to the coast. There are traces of thousands of years of Aboriginal occupation of the area. Hunters of seals and whales showed the way for the first European invaders in Victoria around Portland. Remnants of early industries include fishing, timber-getting and tourism: Lorne was already a magnet for holiday-makers in the nineteenth century, even though they had to get there by sea.The rock outcrops on the west coast are relatively young, but around Cape Otway they are old enough to contain dinosaur fossils from just over 100 million years ago. You will see sedimentary rocks deposited by ancient rivers and seas, and basalt from much more recent volcanoes.Western Victoria has penguin colonies and mutton-bird rookeries, and you have a good chance of seeing whales in season. There are distinctive plant communities in heathlands near Anglesea and Port Campbell, and from Portland westwards there are plants which are more common in South Australia. Four Marine National Parks and six smaller Marine Sanctuaries protect diverse animals and plants and their habitats. The pictures in the chapter on animals and plants will help you to identify the species you are most likely to see.