Cape Manifold was named by Captain Cook on 28 May 1770. He noted numerous fires and smoke from aboriginal camps on the mainland. Today the area is uninhabited except during military exercises. The cape is a narrow, 20 to 60 m high, finger-like headland protruding 500 m eastward. An 80 m high island lies 400 m east of the cape. Immediately south of the cape is a 1.6 km long, slightly curving, east facing beach (1348). It receives waves averaging 0.6 m as well as any higher wind waves and swell. These maintain a narrow high tide beach fronted by a 150 m wide, low gradient intertidal to low tide beach, with up to ten rips present at low tide. A second bar with more widely spaced rips is often present further seaward, as well as permanent rips against the headlands. Behind the beach is a well vegetated foredune and then extensive vegetated, long walled parabolic dunes that extend up to 10 km inland. read more

Beach Length: 1.6km