South Australia (Kangaroo Island)
Kingscote
This was the first settlement in South Australia. It was first named Angas, after George Fife Angas, one of the colony's founders, but a dispute saw it renamed after Henry Kingscote, another of the founders. On the shore of beautiful Nepean Bay, Kingscote is the island's capital, and its centre of commerce and tourism.
To the north of the town, steep cliffs provide a good vantage point for views over the town, the bay, and Western Cove. Yachts and fishing boats dot the water. At the base of the cliffs is Reeves Point, the colony's first landing-place. To the south, the cliffs give way to beach and swampland near the mouth of the Cygnet River where birds nest and breed in profusion.

It’s a 45-minute drive on a sealed road from Penneshaw to KINGSCOTE (60km), the island’s main town with banks, shops, a hospital, library and the only high school.

The ferry from Adelaide docks right in town near the landmark Ozone Hotel which fronts a small sandy beach with grassed terraces and a sea pool with a waterslide and playground. The coast here has been the scene of several shipwrecks – interpretive boards on the foreshore provide details. 

For more history, you can walk north along the Esplanade to the Reeves Point Historic Site, where more interpretive boards provide the only clue to the South Australia Company’s first landing of settlers in July 1836, before they headed off to establish nearby Adelaide; with three hundred at its peak, the settlement failed and was folded by 1839. Less than a kilometre up the hill above, on Seaview Road, is Hope Cottage Folk Museum (daily 2–4pm; closed July & Aug), the restored 1859 home of a pioneering family. Kingscote has a small colony of penguins that were transported from Penneshaw during the building of the boardwalk there; not as impressive as Penneshaw’s, they’re best seen on the guided ranger talks that leave from the foyer of the Ozone Hotel (Oct–March 8.30pm & 9.30pm; rest of the year 7pm & 8pm; $5).

Established in 1907, the waterfront Ozone Seafront Hotel is a local institution and the best place in town to eat, with a bistro and restaurant. Back from the beach on Dauncy Street is the Queenscliffe Family Hotel, another old pub offering rooms and meals; and next door is the Blue Gum Cafe, which has a varied city-style menu, with vegetarian dishes and real coffee (closed Sun). Upmarket motel accommodation, with sea views, is found at Wisteria Lodge, Cygnet Road. Campers have a choice between the small and central Kangaroo Island Caravan Park and the Nepean Bay Caravan Park  at Brownlow Beach, 3km away, which is more inviting and better equipped.

Attractions
  • HOPE COTTAGE FOLK MUSEUM This museum contains some rare artefacts from Kangaroo Island's past, including the reconstructed light from the Cape Willoughby Lighthouse. Its transport section tells the story of the island's maritime history. The collection is housed in a restored home built in 1859 by two brothers who'd struck it rich on the Victorian goldfields.
  • JUMBUCK SHEARING DEMONSTRATIONS. This 364 hectare farm, eighteen kilometres from Kingscote, provides visitors with the opportunity to learn the history of shearing and wool industry from farmers whose families have been on the land since 1883. Sheep shearing and sheep dog demonstrations are a special feature and rare shearing equipment is on display.
  • KINGSCOTE CEMETARY This is the oldest in South Australia. The inscriptions on the headstones tell a poignant but fascinating story of early pioneer life.
  • PELICAN FEEDING Every day at four o'clock, Kingscote's pelican population gathers on the foreshore to await the arrival of Milton Turner, a fourth generation islander and his assistant. They know Milton carries a supply of fish morsels they so covet. Rain or shine, the spectacle occurs every day on this, South Australia's island zoo without bars.
  • REEVES POINT Just north of Kingscote, this is the site of South Australia's first official settlement in 1836. The Kingscote Pioneer Memorial commemorates South Australia's first settlers who arrived here on July 27, 1836 aboard the Duke of York. The colony's first fruit tree, a mulberry tree, was planted at Reeves Point, it still bears fruit and the locals use it to make jam. A cairn at Peeves Point also marks the site of South Australia's first Post Office.
  • ST. ALBAN'S CHURCH Built in 1884, St. Alban's Church is the oldest public building on Kangaroo Island, It was used for council meetings and also as a school room. Its special features include beautiful stained glass windows and many memorials to the island's pioneer families.

Events
  • KANGAROO ISLAND RACING CARNIVAL (February) Held annually at the picturesque Kingscote racecourse nestled alongside the Cygnet River, this event offers a truly memorable atmosphere with a feature-packed race card on both race days. It is the state's biggest non-TAB event attracting international race-goers.