COBOURG PENINSULA

also spelled Coburg, northwestern extremity of Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. The peninsula consists of a narrow neck of land extending about 60 miles (100 km) to Cape Don on Dundas Strait, which separates it from Melville Island in the Timor Sea. The island encloses Van Diemen Gulf on the north and east. It is chiefly a low, undulating plateau, and its northern coast is deeply indented by inlets, the largest of which is Port Essington (19 miles by 7 miles [31 km by 11 km]), site of an early settlement. The peninsula was seen in 1818 by Captain Phillip Parker King of the Royal Navy and was named after Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, uncle of Queen Victoria. It is now part of a wildlife sanctuary and a flora and fauna reserve.