Squeaky Beach Nature Walk

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Short loop from the Squeaky Beach car park through coastal banksia woodland to the beach's famous squeaking white-quartz sand.

☰ Trail details

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Distance

1.07 km

Est. time

15 min

Elevation gain

0 m

Route type

Loop

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In an emergency

Call 000 for police, fire or ambulance — Australia's emergency number works even with a weak signal, and without a SIM if any carrier has coverage.

You're in Wilsons Promontory National Park, South Gippsland, VIC. Mobile reception in this area is not guaranteed — this is exactly why the offline map and GPS position on this page work without signal.

Tell someone your plan and expected return time before you set off. A PLB is the most reliable backup where there's no reception at all.

Tracks & plans

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About this hike

This short walk from the Squeaky Beach car park crosses low dunes through coastal banksia woodland before opening onto a beach framed by the huge rounded granite boulders Wilsons Promontory is known for. The Prom was first reserved as parkland in 1898 and made a permanent national park in 1908, protecting the peninsula that reaches toward South Point, the southernmost point of the Australian mainland. The beach takes its name from its white quartz sand, which squeaks distinctively underfoot as you walk across it. It's one of the shortest walks in the park, but it packs in the classic Wilsons Prom combination of granite headland, coastal heath and empty white sand.

Species to look for on this trail

Ancient trees and rare flora confirmed in this park. Spot one? Add it as a sighting pin below.

Coast BanksiaDocumented on this trail

Banksia integrifolia

Coastal flagship species▾

Coastal flagship species

One of the four original Banksia species collected by Sir Joseph Banks in 1770, and the dominant flowering tree along much of the Victorian coast. Flowers year-round with a peak in autumn, making it a reliable food source for honeyeaters and other nectar-feeders.

How to spot it

A gnarled, often wind-sculpted tree to 25m with rough grey bark and dark green leaves that flash silvery-white on their undersides in the wind. Pale yellow cylindrical flower spikes 10-12cm tall stand upright at branch tips. Common on the dunes and headlands of Wilsons Promontory, Cape Conran, Croajingolong, Discovery Bay and the Mornington Peninsula.

Family Proteaceae · Source: Wikipedia: Banksia integrifolia

Photo: Krzysztof Golik (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Austral Grass-tree

Xanthorrhoea australis

Centuries-old, fire-adapted icon▾

Centuries-old, fire-adapted icon

A slow-growing icon of Victoria's poor, leached soils — trunks are built up over centuries and some individuals are estimated at 350-450 years old. Flowers prolifically in the season or two after bushfire, sending up a spear-like flower spike to 2m tall.

How to spot it

A thick black, corky trunk topped with a dense skirt of long, blue-green, needle-like grass leaves, often with older dead leaves hanging down the trunk. Common in heath and dry forest across the Grampians, Wilsons Promontory and the Kinglake ranges.

Family Asphodelaceae · Source: Wikipedia: Xanthorrhoea australis

Photo: Erin Silversmith (GNU Free Documentation License 1.2+), taken at Kinglake National Park, via Wikimedia Commons

Wildlife you might see on this trail

Animals confirmed in this park. Spot one? Add it as a sighting pin below.

Caddisfly

Notoperata sparsa

Vulnerable — VIC: Vulnerable▾

Vulnerable — VIC: Vulnerable

The caddisflies are a group of insects with aquatic larvae and terrestrial adults. There are approximately 14,500 described species, most of which can be divided into the suborders Integripalpia and Annulipalpia on the basis of the adult mouthparts. Integripalpian larvae construct a portable casing to protect themselves as they move around looking for food, while annulipalpian larvae make themselves a fixed retreat in which they remain, waiting for food to come to them. The affinities of the small third suborder Spicipalpia are unclear, and molecular analysis suggests it may not be monophyletic. Also called sedge-flies or rail-flies, the adults are small moth-like insects with two pairs of hairy membranous wings. They are closely related to the Lepidoptera which have scales on their wings; the two orders together form the superorder Amphiesmenoptera.

How to spot it

Real occurrence confirmed near Wilsons Promontory National Park (Atlas of Living Australia, 1986) — no separate physical description was available on Wikipedia for this species, see the source link for more.

Family Leptoceridae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Caddisfly

Little Egret

Egretta garzetta

Endangered — VIC: Endangered▾

Endangered — VIC: Endangered

The little egret is a species of small heron in the family Ardeidae. It is a white bird with a slender black beak, long black legs and, in the western race, yellow feet. As an aquatic bird, it feeds in shallow water and on land, consuming a variety of small creatures. It breeds colonially, often with other species of water birds, making a platform nest of sticks in a tree, bush or reed bed. A clutch of three to five bluish-green eggs is laid and incubated by both parents for about three weeks. The young fledge at about six weeks of age.

How to spot it

Real occurrence confirmed near Wilsons Promontory National Park (Atlas of Living Australia, 2017) — no separate physical description was available on Wikipedia for this species, see the source link for more.

Family Ardeidae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Little Egret

Common wombat

Vombatus ursinus

IUCN Least Concern - common but iconic▾

IUCN Least Concern - common but iconic

A sturdy, ground-dwelling burrowing marsupial found across south-eastern Australia including Tasmania, with an isolated northernmost population in the granite country of the Queensland-NSW border. It digs extensive tunnel systems 2-20 metres long and is mostly active at dusk and night.

How to spot it

Low, heavy-set body up to 1.2m and 35kg on the mainland (smaller in Tasmania), small eyes and ears, large bare nose, and a rolling waddling gait. Look for large rectangular burrow entrances and cubed scat left as territory markers on rocks and logs - a reliable sign even when the animal itself is denned up during the day.

Family Vombatidae · Source: Wikipedia; IUCN Red List

Photo: JJ Harrison (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Long-nosed potoroo

Potorous tridactylus

EPBC-listed Vulnerable (IUCN Near Threatened)▾

EPBC-listed Vulnerable (IUCN Near Threatened)

A small, rabbit-sized hopping marsupial of south-eastern Australian forests, heaths and Tasmania, which digs at night for underground fungi, roots and invertebrates. It is listed Vulnerable nationally under the EPBC Act and Endangered in Victoria.

How to spot it

Body 34-38cm with a shorter, semi-prehensile tail (15-24cm); grey-brown fur and an elongated pointed nose give it a bandicoot-like look at rest, but it moves in kangaroo-style hops with front feet tucked to its chest. Look for small conical diggings in the leaf litter of dense understorey near forest edges and heath, most active around dusk and dawn.

Family Potoroidae · Source: Wikipedia; IUCN Red List

Photo: Gunjan Pandey (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Swamp Wallaby

Wallabia bicolor

IUCN Least Concern▾

IUCN Least Concern

The swamp wallaby is a small, dark-coated marsupial found in thick forest and scrub understorey down the entire east coast of Australia, notable for being almost continuously pregnant throughout its reproductive life.

How to spot it

Look for a dark brown to black back contrasting with a light yellow to rufous-orange chest, a pale cheek stripe, and often a white-tipped tail. It moves with its head held low and tail out straight, and is usually flushed alone from dense undergrowth rather than seen grazing in the open like a kangaroo.

Family Macropodidae · Source: Wikipedia

Photo: Toby Hudson (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Wikimedia Commons