The origin of Wedding Cake Island's name is a bit of a mystery. People have speculated that the name relates to either the distant view of white caps or copious bird
droppings giving the island the appearance of an iced wedding cake. The island, which lies about one kilometre off
the south-eastern side of Coogee Beach, is a clearly visible ocean guard to Coogee Bay with waves washing over it, but does it really look like a wedding cake?
Aerial View of Wedding Cake Island, Coogee
Bridal Rock?
The Geographical Names Board of NSW notes that the name was officially given in 1977, but the name existed well before that. Interestingly, an earlier version of the
website's listing says it was previously
known as Bridal Rook. We cannot find any other mentions of "Bridal Rook".
Lemo's Island? Wikipedia says that it is also known as "Lemo's Island" although who or what is "Lemo" is not stated. Many local surfers we consulted have said they have not heard of
Lemo either, but a correspondent has offered the most plausible explanation. The well-known Coogee surfing family, and surf club members, the "Le Marsneys" bore the nickname
"Lemo". John Le Marsney (b. c1934) was an outstanding watermen, Surf Club supporter, skilled on surf skis, seemingly always in the water handling any massive swell around the
Island with ease.
Le Marsney's skill in the surf became synonymous with navigating big surf, thus Lemo's Island became a well-used colloquial term. A 1952 newspaper report backs this up:
December 15 [1952] Llfesaver John Le Marsney, 18, pulled his legs onto a surf-board just in time to avoid a shark attack at Coogee Saturday.
Le Marsney was one of about 10 club members out on boards and skis near the island, 800 yards from Coogee Beach.
Clubmates shouted a warning as they saw the shark streak toward Le Marsney, who was dangling his legs in the water. The shark cruised
around for a short period and then left without disturbing the surfers at the beach.
First Mention of Wedding Cake Island
On the National Library's Trove database, the name "Wedding Cake Island" is first mentioned in a 1924 newspaper report about a man attempting to swim
to the Island. We consulted many early maps of the Coogee Area, including real estate subdivision sale plans, and the island is either not named, or not drawn
in. Newspaper reports about the Island prior to the 1924 report simply refer to it as the "Island" off the beach. Unfortunately, there are no accounts of whether
the Island had an indigenous name.
Pig Stranded on Island
A newspaper report from October 1922, detailed the remarkable discovery of a pig being stranded on the island. Crew on a passing ship, the SS Eden, reported hearing
the sounds of a squealing pig on the island, but this was discounted as being too improbable. Later that day, a fisherman from Clovelly, a Mr. Brandt, took his launch out to
the island and discovered that a pig had somehow become stranded on the island. He rescued the poor creature and took it ashore. How the pig got there, and
what became of it is not known. However, what is interesting also, is that the island is simply referred to as Coogee Island.
Origin of Wedding Cakes
Early wedding cakes were savory pies. The tradition of sweet, elaborately decorated cakes topped with white icing emanate from the first half of the 19th
century, being popularised by the cake prepared for Queen Victoria's wedding to Prince Albert in 1840. So the name could not have been thought of by a passing
Captain Cook, First Fleeter, or other early British mariner.
The balance of probability is that the name originates from the early 1920s. Perhaps the name lent itself to the gay, frivolous atmosphere of the Roaring Twenties,
long before the band Midnight Oil produced their rock instrumental anthem "Wedding Cake Island" at about the time the name was officially gazetted.
It is a mystery - but we would love to hear of other opinion about its origin.
Trip to Wedding Cake Island
To see what it is like on the Island itself, we asked a local surfer to make the journey out there. He reported:
With a couple of mates for company and safety, I set out on my surfboard to Wedding Cake Island. It was a warm, calm afternoon; Coogee at its best, but we also carried backpacks with some water, lunch
and basic safety equipment. It is only about a kilometre out but conditions can change and it seemed to be relatively ambitious thing to do.
We found a flat rock area of about 50 square metres and pulled our boards up out of the sea. There was nothing there but a few seagulls and a lot of white bird droppings on two far corners
of the islet. Other people have said to me that there used to be a steel stanchion (which could be seen from Coogee Beach) and some hand-holds - but it looks like someone
has done a clean-up and there were no man-made structures. I was surprised to see there was no rubbish, no flotsam, on the island.
It was a fantastic view of Coogee - I think it must be the only place where you could have a fine 180 degree view of all of Coogee looking west. Coogee Beach's golden sands seemed like a hive
of activity with Lilliputian-like figures moving about. I took out my phone to take photographs
and was surprised to see I still had full 4g coverage - so I FaceTimed some of my onshore friends.
Sitting on the edge of a rock, watching the surf come in and out of a small blow hole, I was taken aback by the appearance of the head of a long green animal with glowing eyes - an eel. It seemed
to be accustomed to humans. I threw it a bit of crust from my sandwich, which it took, and its long body disappeared back into the hole.
After a while, being greeted by the unusual sight of a Coogee sunset to the west, we were reminded that it was time to get back to the mainland before darkness fell.
