Limestone Coast - Location and Description

Location and Description

From the Victoria border to the Younghusband Peninsula this area has been settled since the 1840s and supports farming, viticulture, forestry and tourism. Towns of the coast include Bordertown, Keith, Millicent, Mount Gambier, Penola, and Naracoorte, the coastal resorts of Beachport, Kingston SE and Robe, and the wine-growing regions of Coonawarra, Padthaway, Wrattonbully and Mount Benson.

Administratively, the Limestone Coast includes the following Local Government areas: the City of Mount Gambier and the District Councils of Grant, Kingston, Robe, Tatiara, Naracoorte Lucindale and Wattle Range Councils.

Much of the Limestone Coast region is low-lying, and was inundated by sea as recently as 2 million years ago. It had previously also been flooded 15–20 million years ago. The plains are lined by rows of low sandhills parallel to the coast, created at times when the coastline was at that level. Prior to white settlement, much of the land between the sandhills was swamp fed by streams and subject to inundation. A network of drains totalling 1450 km has been constructed to channel the water away through the sandhills to the ocean. Important areas of wetland remain including the lakes and lagoons around the Murray Mouth, where the huge Murray River, by now reduced by draining off into the dry plains of Australia, finally meets the ocean between the Younghusband and the Sir Richard Peninsulas via a series of shallow lagoons including the Coorong, Lake Albert, Lake Alexandrina and Bool Lagoon. Meanwhile areas of upland behind the Limestone Coast include the volcanic craters of Mount Gambier.

The Mediterranean climate of this coast is cool and moist with wet winters.