Wedding Cake Island is an island off Coogee Beach, Sydney, which protects the beach from most swells. It is also known as Lemo's Island.
The most probable source of the name is the shape of the island - it resembles a wedding cake, particularly when the white water breaks over the island, giving the appearance of 'icing'. Another theory is that bird droppings on the island gave the appearance of icing on a cake. Apparently the island was also formerly called Gingerbread Island.
The island is a good scuba diving spot and also is the site of ANZAC day commemorations by the local surf community. Every year in commemoration of ANZAC day, surfers load up their surfboards and backpacks with cartons of beer and drink, and paddle out on their boards from Coogee Beach to Wedding Cake Island.
In 1975, "Wedding Cake Island" was the title of a popular surf music instrumental single by Australian rock music band Midnight Oil, lead singer, Peter Garrett a local resident. The track was re-released in 1980 on the EP Bird Noises. It was also covered by the Australian surf group The Atlantics on the album Delightful Rain in 2006. The Atlantics often include it as part of their live set, with Midnight Oil's blessing.
Coordinates: 33°55′33″S 151°15′55″E / 33.9259°S 151.2654°E / -33.9259; 151.2654
Famous quotes containing the words wedding cake, wedding, cake and/or island:
““End of tomorrow.
Don’t try to start the car or look deeper
Into the eternal wimpling of the sky: luster
On luster, transparency floated onto the topmost layer
Until the whole thing overflows like a silver
Wedding cake or Christmas tree, in a cascade of tears.””
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“You are the food,
you are the tooth, you are the husband,
light, light, sieving through the screen
whereon I bounce my big body at you
like shoes after a wedding car.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“Many people will say to working mothers, in effect, “I don’t think you can have it all.” The phrase for “have it all” is code for “have your cake and eat it too.” What these people really mean is that achievement in the workplace has always come at a price—usually a significant personal price; conversely, women who stayed home with their children were seen as having sacrificed a great deal of their own ambition for their families.”
—Anne C. Weisberg (20th century)
“They all came, some wore sentiments
Emblazoned on T-shirts, proclaiming the lateness
Of the hour, and indeed the sun slanted its rays
Through branches of Norfolk Island pine as though
Politely clearing its throat....”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)