The Great Southern Scarp is comprised of four separately-named but contiguous cliffs/scarps. In actuality it is one landform.
Wylie Scarp
The western end of the Great Southern Scarp is the Wylie Scarp. It starts about 17 kilometres north-west of Point Malcolm and runs in a north-north-easterly direction for 140 kilometres to near Point Culver, just past the Bilbunya Dunes. The Wylie Scarp runs about 10 kilometres inland from the coast.
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- COURSE OF THE WYLIE SCARP.
Baxter Cliffs
The Baxter Cliffs – said to be the most spectacular in the world – run from from the end of the Wylie Scarp at Point Culver east to Twilight Cove, a distance of 160 kilometres.
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- EXTANT OF THE BAXTER CLIFFS.
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- Baxter Cliffs
Hampton Scarp
Between Twilight Cove and Wilson Bluff, immediately south of Border Village, the cliffs are again located away from the coast and are known as the Hampton Scarp – about 300 kilometres in length.
At this point the Eyre Highway descends through the Madura Pass to the Roe Plains and 180 kilometres further on it rises again back onto the Hampton Tablelands at the Eucla Pass.
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- EXTENT OF THE HAMPTON TABLELAND/SCARP.
Bunda Cliffs
From Wilson Bluff the cliffs again form the coastline and from this point they are termed the Bunda Cliffs. They extend 210 kilometres east to what is known as the Head of the Bight – a bay at the most northern extent of the Great Australian Bight.
The highest part of the Great Southern Scarp are the Baxter and Bunda Cliffs where they range from 60 metres to 120 metres.
The four cliffs combined measure 810 kilometres in length.
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- Extent of the cliffs.
While the existence of the Great Southern Scarp can be reasoned by anyone who can read a map and interpret what they see as they drive along (I first became aware of it in the 1980s), the singular name for its four elements only came to the fore with the 2020 publication of a scientific article in the Australian Journal of Earth Sciences by Dr Gresley Wakelin-King and Dr John Webb.
More information on the naming on the Great Southern Scarp.
The reports of the various trips, tours and travels on the Adventures website have a lot of information about place names – their naming and features – toponymy. More information.
© Kim Epton 2016-2025
419 words, one photograph, five images.
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