Cockle Creek

Cockle Creek is a remote coastal locality at the southern end of the Huon Highway in Recherche, Huon Valley, Tasmania, within Southwest National Park and the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. It is the southernmost point in Australia accessible by road. Notable for its sheltered beaches, creek estuary, campground and whale sculpture, it serves as a gateway to wilderness walks and preserves remains of 19th-century whaling and timber history.

Visitors can expect a remote, natural coastal setting where Cockle Creek meets Recherche Bay, with sandy beaches, calm estuary waters and forested surrounds within Southwest National Park. The area includes a campground, picnic and barbecue facilities, boat ramp, information shelter and the bronze southern whale sculpture marking Australia's southernmost road point. Walking tracks such as the South Cape Bay Track start here, offering coastal views, birdlife and historic relics like old jetty piles.

Recherche Bay was visited by French explorer Bruni d'Entrecasteaux in 1792. Cockle Creek hosted a shore-based whaling station in the 1830s and later developed as a timber milling settlement with a jetty and township. Remains of jetty piles, a historic cemetery and former settlement sites reflect its 19th and early 20th-century industrial past.

Located within Southwest National Park, part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, the area holds significance for the Lyluequonny people of the South East nation and retains heritage values associated with early European exploration, whaling and forestry.