Sugarloaf Rock, Western Australia

Sugarloaf Rock, also known as Sugar Loaf Rock^[1] and Sugarloaf Rocks,^[2] is a large, natural granite island in the Indian Ocean just off the coast, situated approximately 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) south of Cape Naturaliste^[3] in the South West region of Western Australia.

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  Sugarloaf Rock
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  Sugarloaf Rock at sunset
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  Sugarloaf Rock and coastline

It is separated from the mainland by a thin channel of water. The rock is one of the most photographed attractions and it has appeared on the cover of the Australian Geographic magazine.^[4][5][6][7]

The rock derives its name from the distinctive conical shape reminiscent of an old-style sugarloaf.^[8] It is designated as a nature reserve and a nesting site for seabirds such as the red-tailed tropicbird.^[8] The Cape to Cape track passes by the lookout to the rock.^[3]

Access to the rock was limited with no road down to the shore present until the mid-1930s;^[9] the site was not well known in 1932, with visitors having to "scramble through thickets and down the cliff" to access the coast.^[1] The first recorded drowning off the rock occurred in 1934 when a man was washed from it.^[10] A danger sign was erected near the site later the same year.^[11] Two more fishermen drowned when they were washed off the rock in 1940, with a third surviving by clinging to a ledge then raising the alarm.^[2][12]